Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga
by devilrose87
Summary: AU to Pokemon Platinum. Dawn, an eleven year old girl, wants nothing more than to stay home and play video games. Too bad everyone else seems to have a different plan for her. Updates Sundays.
1. Chapter 1: Dawn of a Legend

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own pokemon. Or Mario. Or any of Nintendo's intellectual properties or copyrights. Or anything else that isn't mine for that matter.**

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter One**

**Dawn of a Legend**

In the land of Sinnoh, there existed a mountain. Mount Coronet. It was said by some to be at the very center of the universe and that it's peak was where the Sinnoh region began.

Eleven years ago an expedition team set out to reach the top of the mountain, aiming to be the first to do so without the aide of pokemon. The conditions were harsh and many of the explorers were forced to back down, only seven would reach the top of the mountain.

No one knows what became of those seven explorers who had reached the summit, but a white light shone down onto the peak of the mountain that night and the explorers disappeared without a trace. It was a light so bright that it could be seen from everywhere within the Sinnoh region. That same night, a young girl was born. A girl by the name of Dawn. Now, eleven years later, Dawn is about to set out on her pokemon journey.

She just doesn't know it yet.

* * *

"Come on! Just one more hit and I've got him!" A young girl said to herself, using a white, remote-like controller to guide her heroic avatar. On the tv screen in front of her, an 8-bit sprite of a plumber was evading fireballs being shot at him by a creature resembling a blastoise crossed with a charizard. She was on the final level of her game, about to defeat the evil Bowser to save Princess Breloom and the Shroomish Kingdom. Unfortunately, she slipped up. A stray fireball struck the plumber. A tone played, and the sprite fell to the bottom of the screen.

"NO! I ALMOST HAD HIM!" The girl cried in frustration, hands falling to her side and letting the remote clatter to the floor. "I don't get it! The boss is supposed to be the easy part in these games! Ugh!"

The girl, of course, was Dawn. She was eleven years old, and she was anything but typical. Most girls and boys her age would already be gone out into the world after obtaining her first pokemon, but Dawn wasn't interested. Rather, her interests lied solely in video games. In her small bedroom she had one of every gaming system since the NES, which she recently retired after obtaining the Wii. The rest of her consoles were stacked by the wall in the corner of her room. The Wii's Virtual Console was now providing her with all her retro-gaming needs on one system and her tv stand didn't have room to have two systems set up at once.

Next to the pile of consoles in the corner, along the opposite wall and next to her TV, was a large bookcase filled with all her games. Like the consoles, her game collection extended as far back as the NES. She didn't have every game, of course, but she had a lot. And she kept good care of them too, even the oldest systems and games still worked.

Even ignoring the games and systems themselves, though, it was clear the room belonged to a gamer. The white ceiling and walls were covered in a variety of posters, not one of which depicted an actual pokemon. While many creatures looking like pokemon were featured in the posters, they were video game heroes whose design was based off pokemon. Not just the posters, though. The sheets on the girl's bed, which were still strewn about from when she got up, depicted power-ups from the game she was playing and various items and dolls were displayed on top of her dresser. All related to her games.

Shortly after her defeat, the tv showed a black screen which displayed her remaining lives. 57 in total. Rather than continuing, though, the girl checked the character-like clock on her dresser and let out a sigh. It was just past noon.

_"I'll get something to eat first, then I'm coming back and taking that guy down."_ Dawn thought. _"Come to think of it, wasn't there some hour-long special Barry wanted me to watch at eleven? Not that I was all that interested anyway..."_

Barry, Dawn's only friend in the town of Twinleaf and a year younger than her. Or rather, as Dawn would put it herself, occassional kidnapper. Though he was her only friend, she didn't think much of him. He was an excitable and impatient young boy that was incredibly eager to get his first pokemon, unlike Dawn. Of the two, he was the only one with a trainer's license even though Dawn could have gotten one a year ago.

_"I should definitely get dressed then, he'll definitely be coming over here to rant about...whatever that show was. Gold Gyarados?"_ Dawn thought, then shrugged. _"Whatever! Like I was going to watch it after downloading Mario!"_

Dawn walked over to her dresser and changed out of her pajamas and into a pink and black dress with a short skirt and braided her hair with gold bands. She had barely time to finish before she heard footsteps racing up the stairs to her room.

_"That would be him now..."_ She thought, letting out a sigh. As she turned around her door flung open and a blonde haired boy in a striped shirt bolted into the room, skidding to a stop in front of her.

"DAWN!" Barry yelled, frantically waving his arms about. "Dawn! Did you see it? Did you?!"

"If you mean that show, no." Dawn replied flatly. "I was busy playing..."

"Oh, hey, is that a new Wii?" Barry said with a wide grin on his face, rushing over to check it out. "Cool!" He said, then pondered for a moment as he turned back to face Dawn. "Err...what was I saying again?"

"You were asking me if I saw that Green Gyarados thing?"

"NO!" Barry yelled back, waving his arms again. "After that! It was Rowan! Professor Rowan! He was on tv! He's back in Sinnoh!"

Dawn blinked. "Umm...ok? So?"

"Professor Rowan is a pokemon professor! He probably has lots of pokemon!"

_"I...don't like where this is going."_ Dawn thought nervously. Ever fiber in her body was telling her to flee, but to where? The enemy had attacked her in her own home, as usual. There was nowhere for her to run to. All she could do was hope he would leave on his own, as if that ever happened.

"I bet if we asked, he'd give us one!"

"Barry, I told you a hundred times that..."

Barry grabbed Dawn by the hand and pulled her toward the door. "Come on, come on! Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

"No way!" Dawn snapped, pulling her hand away before she could be removed from the comfort of her room. "I'm not interested and I have more important things to do anyway!" Dawn stomped her foot. "There's a princess to be saved!"

"Dawn! You can't spend your entire life just sitting in your room playing video games!"

"Says who? So long as I can still import games in the mail, I don't need to go anywhere!"

"GAH! Its IMPOSSIBLE to argue with you!" Barry reached out and grabbed her again and, in the blink of an eye, Dawn found herself staring at the floor as Barry threw her over his shoulder.

"H-HEY! PUT ME DOWN!" Dawn yelled, pounding against his backside with her fists. It was no use, though. Barry had been kidnapping Dawn to drag her outside for year's now and had long since built up a tolerance to her resistance. Not to mention being able to run while carrying a girl that was a year older than him, bolting out her bedroom door and down the stairs. It was hard to believe someone as scrawny looking as Barry could carry her like that, but that was exactly what was happening.

Barry carried Dawn down the stairs, skipping steps on the way down, and rushed toward the front door. He passed by the kitchen and living room, which were on opposite sides of the hall from each other. The door, fortunately, was still open. Barry entered in such a hurry that he didn't even close it. Meanwhile, Dawn's mother, Joanne, was facing the hallway from the kitchen and sipping a cup of tea when Barry raced by with Dawn and shot out the door.

"Don't be gone long, I'm expecting company." The blue haired woman said calmly. Of course, she didn't expect they'd hear here no matter how loudly she said it.

* * *

"BARRY PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" Dawn shrieked. Barry, of course, didn't listen. He ran straight toward Twin Leaf's northern exit, and only then did Barry finally put her down. Or rather, he dropped her as he tripped over a root sticking out of the ground. Barry fell flat on his face and Dawn was thrown from his arms to land on her back. The fall knocked the wind out of both of them.

Dawn groaned. "You didn't have to drop me..." She slowly sat up, rubbing the back of her head. She glared at Barry when she spotted him doing the same. "This is your fault for kidnapping me, you know!"

"Bah! Like there was any other way to get you out of the house!" Barry shot back, making a sudden recovery and jumping back on his feet.

"I was content to stay there, you know!" Dawn growled, bolting to her feet as well. "Just how the heck do you even plan to get to Sandgem?! There's miles of untamed wilderness hiding who-knows-what between there and here!"

"AHA! But I've already thought of that!" Barry said, waving his left index finger and resting his other hand on his hip. "Its simple! All we have to do is run nonstop! That way, any pokemon that might be hiding in the tall grass or something won't have time to jump out at us, and I bet I could outrun a bidoof any day of the week!"

"Oh? But could you outrun one while carrying me?" Dawn asked, folding her arms in front of her. "I'm not going to go along willingly and if you try to pick me up again I'll bite you."

"Bah! Girls don't bite, they slap!" Barry said. Dawn shot him a dirty look, but he ignored it. "Anyway, if you won't come willingly, then I'll just tell Rowan I need two pokemon and come back with one for you!"

"Or you could just, you know, let me get back to saving the princess..."

"No way! Its time you got your own pokemon and saw the world!"

Dawn narrowed her eyes at him. "You're just saying that because you've heard my mom saying it." Dawn's mother had been trying for years to get Dawn to go outside, ever since she started spending all her time playing video games indoors at age six. At age 10, she tried convincing Dawn to get her own pokemon and explore the region. Her mother even caught a pokemon to give to her, but Dawn wasn't interested.

"Well its true!" Barry said, then turned to face the tall grass that stood between him and Sandgem. "I'm going to take off now! You better still be waiting here when I get back!"

_"I'll wait here long enough to see if a bidoof gets you."_ Dawn thought. _"I bet you don't get more than ten feet without finding a bidoof's front teeth burried in your shin."_ Dawn watched as Barry backed away from the grass and crouched down like a sprinter. She noticed he was grinning, not the least bit afraid that an enraged pokemon might attack him. He then took off, charging toward the grass, but didn't even reach the edge before suddenly...

"HOLD IT!" The voice calling out to them caused Barry to stop in his tracks. Dawn gasped and a wide grin started to creep across her face as she turned around, but it quickly faded when she saw an old man wearing a brown trenchcoat running up to them.

_"He doesn't look like any lawyer I know."_ Dawn thought, frowning.

The old man stopped and looked at the two, seeming more than a little angry with them. "What do you two think you're doing out here with no pokemon to protect you?!" He yelled at them. Dawn quickly stood up and was about to reply when Barry ran up to her.

"Dawn! Don't you know who that is?!" Barry said in a rather loud whisper. Though he didn't let on, Rowan could still hear him talking. "That's Professor Rowan!"

"Is that so?" Dawn said, a mischevious glint in her eyes. _"Sorry, Barry, but neither of us are getting a pokemon today!" _She thought, then turned to Rowan and smiled sweetly.

"We're so sorry, mister! We were only going to go all the way to Sandgem to see if Professor Rowan would give us any pokemon!" Dawn said while feigning an innocent expression. Barry's jaw dropped in shock and Rowan turned his back to them while he contemplated this.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Barry whispered in outrage, flailing his arms. "I just told you that's Professor Rowan! How could you talk to him like that?!"

"Oh, you did say that, didn't you?" Dawn said as if she had just realized it, then smiled at him. "Oh, but I'm sure he'll be nice enough to give us pokemon!"

"You two!" Rowan said suddenly, startling them. Dawn and Barry quickly turned to face him. "You truly love pokemon, do you?"

"Eh?!" Dawn was taken back by the question and didn't know how to respond. If she said yes, would that somehow convince Rowan to give them pokemon? If she said no, wouldn't it seem contradictory? It was a simple question, but it had Dawn in a bind. Her hesitation would allow Barry to derail her plan.

"Of course we love pokemon!" Barry replied enthusiastically. "You could ask us a million times and the answer would still be yes!"

"Hmm..." Rowan considered Barry's answer, stroking his chin as he eyed the two children. _"I wasn't sure at first, but seeing their attitudes there's not a doubt in my mind now. They're the ones I'm here for."_

_ "He's...he's not reconsidering, is he?"_ Dawn wondered, nervously observing the professor.

"A pair of reckless kids who foolishly leave town without pokemon of their own?" Rowan narrowed his eyes at them. "It worries me to think what people like that would do with pokemon."

"Uh...well..." Barry scuffed at the dirt and looked at the ground. "I was the one who dragged her out here..." He muttered under his breath. He then forced a grin as he looked back at Rowan. "Well, forget about me then and how about giving my friend here a pokemon?"

"Hmm. How big of you..." Rowan mused.

Dawn quickly shook her head. "N-no!" She said frantically, holding her hands up. "I don't really want one, you should just give one to Barry!"

"No, that's quite alright." Rowan smiled and clasped his hands together. "I have decided I will entrust both of you with pokemon!"

"EHHH?!" Dawn nearly shrieked. Barry jumped for joy.

"BUT! You must promise me that you will never recklessly endanger yourselves again!" He cautioned them.

_"Oh you don't need to worry about that."_ Dawn thought, narrowing her eyes. _"Pokemon or not, I'm not going anywhere! I have worlds to save, guys with god complexes to beat up, and mad scientist plots to end! Besides, mom already has a pokemon for me and that didn't get me to leave the first time."_

"Now then..." Professor Rowan looked around as if trying to find something. Not seeing what he was looking for, he scratched his head in confusion. "Hm? Now where..."

"Professor Rowan!" A boy's voice called out to him. Down the path Rowan had come from a boy about Dawn's age and wearing a beret could be seen carrying a briefcase. "Professor Rowan, you left your briefcase at the lake!" He said when he finally caught up to him. He then gave Dawn and Barry a curious glance. "Err...everything alright here?"

"Ah! There it is!" Rowan smiled as he took the briefcase from the boy. He then set it down on the ground and opened it up, revealing three pokeballs inside. "I was just about to entrust these two with their own pokemon."

"EH?!" The boy stumbled back, looking shocked. "B-but professor! Those three are extremely rare and valuable pokemon and we need them for the experiments! Are you sure about this?!"

_"Experiments?"_ Dawn thought, blinking. She pictured Professor Rowan and the boy running a mad scientist lab, then shook her head. _"No, no matter what way I look at him, he doesn't seem like the mad scientist type..."_

"Hm..." Rowan contemplated the pokeballs for a moment before turning to the boy and replying. "Lucas, we exist side by side with pokemon. There comes a time when people should meet with pokemon for themselves." Rowan glanced back toward the two, Dawn was sure he was looking at her in particular for some reason. "For these two, I believe that time is now."

_"I disagree."_ Dawn thought. _"Sorry, Rowan, but my princess is in another castle. Whatever pokemon you're going to give me will just sit on the shelf with that..." _Dawn pondered for a moment, trying to recall the name of the pokemon her mother once tried to stick her with. _"...bun-thing?"_

"Did you hear that, Dawn?! We're getting our own pokemon!" Barry excitedly said to her. Dawn gave him a very unamused look.

Rowan took two pokeballs out of the briefcase. "I think these would suit you two best." He said, then released the two pokemon. A green turtle pokemon with a leaf on its head appeared in front of Dawn, and an orange monkey pokemon with a flame for a tail appeared in front of Barry. Dawn regarded the pokemon before her curiously, even though she had no interest in becoming a trainer.

_"You know, in a way, it kinda looks like..."_ She thought, trailing off as she stared down at it.

"OH, WOW!" Barry exclaimed, reaching down and picking up the orange furred pokemon. "This guy is my new pokemon? Cool!"

"-Hey, Chimchar, any idea whats going on here?-" The turtle pokemon asked his buddy. Chimchar quickly shook his head.

"-I think its what this guy said! These two will be our trainers now, Turtwig!-" Chimchar replied, the slightest bit of an excited tone noticeable in his voice.

"-Huh...-" Turtwig tilted his head slightly and looked at Dawn observantly. "-You sound pretty excited, but I get the feeling this girl is hopeless somehow.-"

"The grass-type pokemon is known as Turtwig, and the fire-type pokemon is known as Chimchar." Rowan explained to them. "Why don't you two start by giving them nicknames?"

"All we're left with now is Piplup..." Lucas mumbled, shoulders drooping in defeat.

_"Well, even if I don't use the little guy at all, I still have an awesome nickname for him!"_ Dawn thought, grinning widely. She crouched down to be closer to Turtwig. "Turtwig! From now on, your name is Bowser!"

"-Bowser?-" The turtwig thought about it for a moment and then smiled. "-Ok, that sounds like a decent name.-"

"Of course you'd name it that." Barry said, narrowing his eyes at her. He then looked at Chimchar and thought for a moment. "Hmm...how about...Chariko?"

"-Chariko? Sounds fine to me!-" The chimchar said enthusiastically.

"Oh, but..." Barry put Chariko down and looked to Rowan. "You're just giving them to us? Isn't there anything we can do for you in return?"

Rowan smiled. "Well of course! I am a pokemon professor, afterall. If you were able to get data on the various wildlife in Sinnoh and rare pokemon especially..."

"Rare pokemon?" Barry thought for a moment and then quickly grabbed Dawn by the shoulders. "DAWN! I know where we can find a rare pokemon for him!"

"Err...what now?" Dawn said, blinking. "What rare pokemon would you know of?"

"The pokemon at the lake!" Barry said, grinning. "Come on! Let's go check it out already!" He quickly grabbed Dawn by the wrist and dragged her off down the path.

"H-hey! Stop already!" Dawn yelled. Of course, Barry didn't stop at all.

"Chariko! You come too!" He called back to his new pokemon. Chariko and Bowser both nodded and chased off after their trainers. Bowser was moving quite slowly, though, so Chariko picked him up. Chariko carried Bowser over his head as he ran to catch up with Barry and Dawn.

"Well...you definitely matched them well, I'll give you that." Lucas said to Rowan, watching the pokemon and their trainers as they ran off. "But what are we supposed to do now? We only have one pokemon left!" He then asked.

"What else?" Rowan took the final pokeball out of the briefcase and smiled as he handed it to Lucas. "You don't have your pokemon with you, so why don't you take this one?"

"But then we won't have ANY pokemon!" Lucas shouted, waving his arms. "And I don't have my pokemon because..." Lucas stopped and stared blankly as it finally dawned on him.

"Because?"

"...because you told me to send them by boat." Lucas muttered, taking the pokeball from Rowan. "You planned this. You planned all of this. Again. Those two were even from Twinleaf, where you were going next. Somehow you knew you'd meet up with them and give them pokemon, didn't you?"

"Ah...I might have had such an arrangement." Rowan replied, stroking his beard. "Incidentally, it seems my trip to Twinleaf has been cancelled now. I will call Joanne and let her know what happened when I arrive in Sandgem. However, we seem to have a minor problem here..." Rowan gestured toward the briefcase, which had two pokeballs in it.

"But didn't you give those two pokemon to...wait." Lucas slapped his hand against his forehead. "Those two! They bolted without taking the pokeballs!"

"Would you mind taking their pokeballs to them?" Rowan said. Lucas sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Lucas said. He closed up the briefcase and picked it up. "But its partially your fault for putting the pokeballs back in after releasing the pokemon." He added, then took off after Dawn and Barry.

"But of course." Rowan chuckled to himself. "You'll need to get acquainted with your my new assistants, afterall."

* * *

"Barry, let go! I can walk!"

"Yeah, but you'll run off!" Barry countered. "We're almost there anyway!" Chariko and Bowser were running alongside them, with Chariko still carrying Bowser over his head to keep up with them.

Barry dragged Dawn past a line of trees and into a large clearing that formed the shore of Lake Verity. A line of trees surrounded the crystal-clear lake on all sides. Barry finally let go of Dawn's wrist once they were in the clearing and ran up to the shore. Chariko finally put Bowser down as well and then caught up with his trainer.

"This is it, Dawn! Lake Verity! I bet that legendary pokemon is out there somewhere!"

"Barry, I know where we are, we both used to play here." Dawn said indignantly, slowly approaching the shoreline herself. "And you know what? We NEVER saw any legendary pokemon here! If there is one we'd have to trigger the right flag first anyway."

"-Flag?-" Bowser looked at her curiously, following along beside her. "-Well I didn't see any flags on the way here, but how would one trigger a flag anyway?-"

"You didn't treat everything like a video game back then either!" Barry shot back. "I mean, geez! Flags?! Next you'll try to save your progress or something!"

"-Save her progress?-" Chariko repeated in confusion, looking at Bowser for an answer.

"-They lost me at flags.-" Bowser replied.

"Come to think of it, there was another girl back then too...she's the one that gave me my NES..." Dawn mumbled, thinking back to their childhood at the lake.

Barry's eye twitched. "That's...that's all you remember her for, isn't it?!" he said, pointing a finger at her. "When I become the next champion you better not just remember me as the guy who dragged you away from your video games!"

"Speaking of which. Princess. Saving. Needs. I'm going." Dawn turned and started to walk away from the lake, resting her hands behind her head. "There's nothing here anyway."

In the midst of their banter, neither Dawn nor Barry noticed the silhouette of a pokemon briefly appear above the water. It let out a cry that got their attention, but had disappeared by the time they looked.

"That cry just now! It must have been the pokemon!" Barry said excitedly.

"EH?!" Dawn rushed to the edge of the lake and scanned the water. "No way! Did we really trigger the right flag already?!"

"What are you two going on about?" Lucas asked them, arriving on the scene with Rowan's briefcase in hand. He dropped the briefcase at his side when he stopped by the lake shore and scanned the water. "Don't go thinking the pokemon of the lake would just show up for you two, the professor and I were already here."

"Maybe you didn't trigger the right flag?" Dawn suggested.

"ENOUGH WITH THE FLAGS!" Barry yelled at her.

_"Rowan...I really think we need to reconsider giving pokemon to these two."_ Lucas thought, letting out a sigh. "Look, I'm only here because you two left your pokeballs behind." Lucas turned to them and held up the briefcase, opening it to reveal Bowser and Chariko's pokeballs.

"Huh?" Barry blinked as he looked over at the pokeballs in the briefcase and was immediately shocked. "ACK! NO! WE DON'T HAVE ANY!"

"Have any what?" Dawn asked, blinking.

"You know! THOSE!" Barry pointed at the pokeballs in the briefcase. "P-O-K-accent E BALLS! We can't catch the lake pokemon without those!"

"-I'm starting to think we didn't end up with the most capable trainers.-" Bowser said to Chariko.

Chariko put his finger to his mouth. "-But Barry said we'll be champions. He'd have to be good, right?-"

"-I think its up to us to make sure our new trainers are able to get by.-" Bowser said, nodding to Chariko. "-Becoming champion will be up to you.-"

"I'm telling you, you two didn't..." Lucas stopped when a rather loud splashing noise was heard in the water. Before he could look to see what it was, a pink and blue pokemon with two tails shot past him and circled around Dawn and Barry. "What the?!"

"The lake pokemon! Its here! Its really here!" Barry yelled frantically. The unknown pokemon continued to circle around him and Dawn, making a noise that sounded like it was in a fit of giggles. Dawn was actually too surprised to say anything, following the pokemon's movements in amazement.

"What's with that pokemon appearing for them and why does it look so happy?" Lucas wondered, blinking in disbelief. He quickly shook his head and then frantically yelled, "What are you two waiting for?! Battle it with your pokemon so we can catch it!"

At the mention of 'battle', the lake pokemon suddenly stopped and floated away. It didn't try to escape, rather it stopped a bit out over the water and seemed like it was waiting for the trainers to make their move.

"Alright, works for me!" Barry stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth and snapped his fingers. "Dawn! You ready!?"

"Umm...r-right..." Dawn replied hesitantly, then pointed out toward the floating pokemon. "Bowser!"

"Chariko!"

"FLAMETHROWER!"

Dawn and Barry called out the attack simultaneously, but neither of their pokemon responded. Lucas stared vacantly at the two before slapping his hand against his forehead. Realizing he would have to take matters into his own hands, he quietly took the single pokeball from his belt and pressed the release button. A red beam fired into the water and materialized into a pokemon, hidden under the surface.

"-I...I don't think I'm strong enough to use that attack.-" Chariko admitted, twiddling his fingers.

"-At least your trainer got that much right.-" Bowser rolled his eyes. "-I can see we have a loooong way to go.-"

"Dawn, a turtwig is a grass-type pokemon. You'll be hard pressed to find a grass-type pokemon that can use Flamethrower. Barry, that Chariko doesn't have much training. It won't be able to use an advanced technique like Flamethrower."

"Oh." Dawn and Barry replied in unison.

"Now, watch." Lucas turned and gestured with his hand toward the lake pokemon. The lake pokemon seemed confused and looked around expectantly, only for a piplup to suddenly burst from the water and strike the pokemon in the rear with his wing. The lake pokemon cried out and floated around in circles, holding its butt with its fingerless hands, then stopped and glared at the piplup.

"I see. So the pokemon's butt is its weakpoint." Dawn said, nodding sagely.

"That's not the lesson here." Lucas muttered.

"-Can...can I change my trainer?-" Bowser asked, looking at Lucas hopefully.

"-Yeah! Me two!-" Chariko chimed in, waving his arms to get Lucas's attention.

Curious about Bowser and Chariko's behaviour, none of the three trainers were watching the two pokemon out in the water. The lake pokemon's eyes, as well as the gem on its forehead, began to glow. Piplup was startled at first as a pink glow surrounded its body, but his expression soon blanked out entirely and left it looking like it was in a daze. The lake pokemon then finally retreated, diving back into the water.

"Great. It fled." Lucas muttered to himself, then took a pokeball in his hand. "Piplup, good try. Back into the pokeball now." Piplup gave no response, seemingly not caring one way or another about being recalled. Lucas placed Piplup's pokeball back on his belt, then took the two pokeball's out of Rowan's briefcase and handed them to Dawn and Barry.

"You two will need those to store your pokemon in, I have to report this encounter to Rowan." Lucas said to them. "You two should drop the lab too, just incase there's any...uh...problems to be resolved." He then turned and left, muttering to himself about getting back the pokemon for their experiments.

"-Hey, didn't Piplup seem kinda odd just now?-" Chariko asked Bowser.

"-Yeah, kinda seemed like all the emotion was drained out of him all of a sudden.-" Bowser said. "-That's just silly, though. A pokemon couldn't do something like that.-"

"Well, so much for catching the lake pokemon." Barry said, letting out an exasperated sigh. Turning to his pokemon, he clenched a fist determinedly. "But we can't let this experience hold us back! We're going to become the best there is, right Chariko!?"

"-You got it!-" Chariko replied, jumping up excitedly.

"Dawn! I'm going to go home and pack for my league challenge, but you shouldn't stick around here either! See ya around!" Barry then took off, dashing back toward Twinleaf with Chariko quickly taking off after him and following close behind.

"Hmm..." Dawn glanced out toward the lake, then looked down at Bowser and said, "Bowser, don't you find it odd that neither Barry or Lucas said anything about what that pokemon was saying?"

"-Umm...most humans can't understand pokemon to my knowledge, so no?-" Bowser said, looking at her curiously.

"It kept saying things like, 'you're back, you're back!' and 'look how much you grew!', like it actually recognized us. But if I'm the only one that understood it, you know what that means, don't you?"

"-You have some kind of mystical connection to that pokemon?-" Bowser suggested.

"It means I MIGHT just have to cut back on the video games a bit." Dawn said. "Well, as soon as I rescue the princess..." Dawn then turned and started to leave the lake.

"-Princess? We're going to rescue a princess? Then let's get going already!-" Bowser said, following along beside her. After they had left, a blue haired man in spacesuit-like attire stepped out of the trees and watched her leave, stroking his chin in contemplation.

"Seems I was right to watch these children. The legendary pokemon appeared so willingly before them." He glanced out toward the lake, folding his hands behind his back. "Mesprit...in due time, I will come for you. Until then, hide while you can, legendary pokemon of the lake bed..."

* * *

Author's Notes: And...that's that! First chapter of the "legendsverse" Sinnoh Saga. Fairly true to the ingame story with some liberties taken to speed things up a bit. I wanted to be quite different with Dawn's personality compared to past characters, though. Her obsession with video games will be a driving force behind her goals on more than one occassion. As for the status of video games in the pokemon world...well, Nintendo seems to do fairly well since the main character owns a Wii in the games.

Character ages, for those curious, at 10 for Barry, 11 for Dawn, and 12 for Lucas. Lucas already has a two-year start as a trainer but, as mentioned, he's been temporarily separated from his old pokemon. Anyone who read the sidestories would remember him making a brief appearance with three pokemon. One might notice his remaining pokemon might not be quite battle worthy at this point either. Poor guy can't catch a break...

Next chapter will introduce the first OT for this saga, as well as a brief cameo by one of the older characters. And Dawn might actually get the motivation to leave home on her own for a change.

Think thats all I wanted to make note of here. Can't remember anything else anyway. So, yeah. Feel free to leave a review if this is the first time you've read one of my fics and hope to see you next chapter!


	2. Chapter 2: Dawn to Dusk

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter Two**

**Dawn to Dusk**

"Hmm..." Dawn stroked her chin, deep in thought. On the floor in front of her room, Bowser, her recently obtained turtwig, attempted to play a game on Dawn's Wii. His attempts, however, involved repeatedly stepping on the wii-mote with one foot, getting the on-screen avatar nowhere. "No, I don't think this is going to work..."

Bowser rolled his eyes. "-Ya think?-"

"I couldn't even get you to do any level grinding for me like that. Its too bad you don't have actual hands." At the mention of hands, Dawn immediately recalled the orange furred chimp pokemon her friend Barry had taken. She mentally added it to her list of reasons to hate him, falling directly under 'repeat kidnapper'.

Dawn looked down at Bowser again and snapped her fingers. "Wait a minute! I have my own pokemon now!" She grinned. "I can just CATCH a pokemon that has hands!"

"-Catch a pokemon with hands, huh?-" Bowser clicked his beak together and stepped away from the wii-mote, giving it one last disdainful look. "-Well, good to know my inability to play this...thing won't hinder my usefulness.-"

"Oh...but I need a trainer's license to catch my own pokemon." Dawn sighed. "Guess that's as good an excuse as any to go visit that professor."

After turning her console off, Dawn packed up a few things into a white duffel bag, including a Nintendo DS, for her journey and headed downstairs. Bowser followed along beside her, as usual. Her mother was in the living room watching tv when Dawn passed by with the bag slung over her shoulder and looked up at her.

"Oh, don't tell me you're actually going on a journey after all this time? I thought you said having a turtwig changes nothing for you?"

Dawn quickly spun around and pointed a finger at her. "Don't get any ideas! I'm only going as far as I need to go to find a pokemon with hands! My room better be exactly the way I left it when I get back!"

"Oh, I wouldn't even try to clean your room," Her mother flashed her a mocking smile. "But since you're leaving anyway, perhaps you should take your other pokemon too?"

Dawn blinked and lowered her hand. "What other pokemon? I only have Bowser..."

Her mother turned the tv off and got up from her chair, then walked over to a small cabinet at the far end of the room. The front of the cabinet was glass, showing the pokeballs stored inside. The pokeballs contained her mother's pokemon from when she used to enter contests. There were seven pokeballs in total, something which Dawn only now noticed. Her mother opened the cabinet, retrieving one of the pokeballs, then closed it again.

"The one I caught for you." Joanne held out the pokeball and released the pokemon held within onto the living room floor. A rabbit pokemon with pink tufts of fur topping its ears and covering the lower part of its body. The rest of its body was brown, but with a pink tint to it. "This is a buneary," Dawn's mother began to explain. "I found it in Eterna Forest and thought having such a cute, rare pokemon might convince you to go out and train it."

"-Ah, the lowlife child. We meet again.-" The buneary muttered bitterly. Dawn walked toward it and kneeled down to take a closer look, tilting her head from side to side.

"She's kinda cute I guess..." Dawn then added mentally, _her hands aren't going to be any good though_.

"He, you mean." Her mother corrected her. Dawn looked up at her in disbelief, then back down at the buneary.

"He? But she - I mean, he - is such a girlish pokemon! And he's pink!"

"-Of course. Because what looks 'girlish' to you humans must be 'girlish' to all species of pokemon, right?-" Buneary glared at her. "-You make me sick.-"

_Already starting off on the wrong foot with this one_, Bowser thought, shaking his head.

"Well, couldn't hurt to take him I guess." Dawn stood up and thought to herself for a moment, running through potential nicknames in her head before deciding on one that seemed to suit such a girly-looking male pokemon. "I think I'll call him Bridget then."

Bridget glared at her. "-I _really_ couldn't care less what you call me.-"

"Now, I should have some potions and revives lying around too, just one moment," Dawn's mother said, then headed toward the kitchen to find the items in question.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Mom! I've got two pokemon, Sandgem isn't that far, and the wild pokemon around here aren't even that tough! I'm not going to need any medicine!"

* * *

Not even half an hour passed before Dawn found herself facing a wild bug pokemon, almost to Sandgem by then, and Bowser laid on the ground in a daze. Only a foot in height and looking like it was bundled up for winter in a red coat, the wild kricketot glared at her and dared her to try to pass.

_How...how did this happen?_ Dawn wondered. _It beat Bowser so easily...as if it were absorbing all of Bowser's attacks and then..._ Dawn blinked and slapped herself on the forehead. How could she have been so stupid to not recognize a counter-only opponent when she saw one?

Rather than sending out Bridget to fight it next, Dawn recalled Bowser and continued past the wild pokemon on her own. The kricketot continued to glare at her, but was trying to use its Bide technique. Dawn was able to get into Sandgem without any further incident, but stopped just inside the town.

"Now I need to figure out where the professor's lab is..." Dawn said under her breath. Rather than looking up at the few buildings near the edge of the town, she looked down and folded her arms while she pondered over her problem.

With her head down, Dawn didn't see the door of the building to her left open suddenly. If she did, she would have at least seen the boy that ran out, but still wouldn't have been able to avoid the collision. Dawn cried out sharply when he crashed into her, knocking her to thr ground and landing on top of her.

"Hey! Watch where you're...Dawn!?" Dawn blinked when she heard the voice and looked up at her assailant. She groaned when she realized it was Barry sitting on top of her, legs straddling her in such a way that it'd be incredibly awkward if anyone saw them like that.

"Barry get off me right now!" she yelled, fuming. She swatted at him with her right hand, but Barry quickly rolled off to the side and stood up with a huge grin on his face.

"You'll have to move faster than that, Dawn!" he said to her. "What are you doing here anyway? I would have thought for sure that you'd still be in your room playing video games!"

"I'm...uhh..." Dawn thought for a moment as she sat up. "Here to repay the favor to Professor Rowan!" she lied. Of course, she wasn't going to tell Barry her intention of finding and catching a pokemon for the sole purpose of playing video games with her.

"Well you're in luck, 'cause his lab is right here!" Barry said to her, pointing toward the building he just came out of. Dawn looked up and mentally slapped herself for not noticing sooner. A large building stood before her, long rather than tall, and a sign next to the door said 'Rowan Research Facility'. She was trying to find it when she was standing right next to it.

"Lucas and the professor are just inside!" Barry pulled Dawn to her feet and pushed her toward the door. "Gogogo!" he said, then gave her one hard shove to push her inside and accidentally sent her falling onto her face.

"Ow! Barry!" Dawn growled, looking back and shooting him a dirty look.

"Heh heh! Sorry!" he said, rubbing the back of his neck and grinning sheepishly. "Well, I've gotta jet! See you around!" Barry then bolted off before Dawn could get in another word.

"Your friend seems to lack patience." Dawn blinked when she heard Lucas's voice and turned around. He was standing over her, face nearly expressionless as usual. "Well, you going to get up and talk to the professor? You owe him for that pokemon he gave you, afterall."

"Yeah, yeah..." Dawn replied, waving him off as she stood up. _I'm just here for my license anyway_, she thought. _Then I'm going to track down and catch a pokemon capable of playing video games!_

Lucas motioned with his hand for Dawn to follow him, then went off further into the lab. Dawn followed behind him, looking around the lab as she did. She could see many researchers going around to different offices and labs, recording data and comparing notes. She also passed by a teenage girl who seemed to be delivering various paperwork, mumbling about how she's supposed to be a junior researcher and not a mail carrier.

Dawn and Lucas eventually arrived at a single door at the far end of the research facility. Lucas waited for her to catch up before opening the door and stepping inside. Dawn went inside as well and found herself in a fairly typical office, aside from a few scattered research tools and a kitchen area off to her right. Rowan was in the room as well, facing away from them while he tinkered with something.

"Professor, Dawn's here to see you," Lucas said. The professor immediately spun around in his chair and smiled when he saw her.

"Excellent timing, Dawn! I had just finished tinkering with your pokedex!" he said to her, standing up and taking a small red device in his hand.

"My what?" Dawn said, blinking. Looking at the device, she couldn't help but think it had a strong similarity to her Nintendo DS.

"Pokedex," Rowan repeated, holding the device out to her. "It automatically records data on any pokemon you encounter. I will be counting on you to gather data on many pokemon."

"Yeah, sure..." Dawn said, taking the pokedex from him. _Sorry to disappoint you, professor, but I don't plan to travel much thank you. And come to think of it..._

"Professor Rowan, you can give me a trainer's license so I can catch pokemon, right?" Dawn asked, looking hopeful.

"Well of course, you don't have one yet?" the professor asked her. Dawn shook her head. The professor nodded and seemed to consider this for a moment, then said to her, "While its true I could simply give a license to anyone I deemed deserving, I believe it would be a much more valuable experience for you if you took the test in Jubilife."

_Mission: obtain license hassle-free from Professor Rowan. Status: failure_, Dawn thought disappointedly. _Well how hard could that test be anyway?_

"Lucas, I want you to accompany her."

"What?!" Lucas shot Rowan an incredulous look. "But...why?!"

"You are heading toward Jubilife anyway to look for pokemon to record, it certainly wouldn't hurt for the two of you to go together," Rowan said to him.

"Fine..." Lucas muttered, letting out a sigh. _I'll get to see her fail that test at least_, he thought. There was no way anyone who would order a grass-type pokemon to use Flamethrower was going to pass a trainer's exam, afterall.

* * *

Elsewhere, meanwhile, a young girl's red eyes watched Dawn, able to see everything around her while being completely unseeable herself.

_An unexpected turn of events, it seems Dawn has left home_, the girl thought. _It will be up to me, then, to make her turn back._

* * *

Dawn and Lucas set out together from Professor Rowan's, first stopping by the pokecenter so Dawn could get Bowser fixed up. She lied to Lucas about what happened to him, claiming she ran into a wild heracross on her way to Sandgem. Lucas wanted to see for himself but Dawn insisted that the Heracross would be long gone.

After Bowser was restored to full strength, the two trainers left Sandgem and headed north toward the city of Jubilife. After travelling for some time they came across a group of wild shinx rolling around in a clearing like cubs, five in total including one with a gold and black color scheme rather than blue and black. The two trainers were far enough away that the shinx didn't seem to notice them yet.

"Aww! Those pokemon are so cute!" Dawn squealed.

"They're Shinx, a common electric type," Lucas explained to her. "Out here in the open like this, they could be dangerous. Maybe they're waiting for a trainer, maybe its a trap to catch one themselves."

"So we should go around them?" Dawn said. Lucas nodded and the two began to move forward. After only a few steps, several black vortexes suddenly appeared on the ground. Dawn and Lucas stopped in their tracks.

"You will go no further!" a girl's voice called out suddenly.

A figure in a purple cloak jumped out of the vortex and landed behind it, while two ghost pokemon appeared out of a pair of vortexes near the wild shinx. The sudden appearance of the pokemon, one a black doll with a zipper on its mouth and the other an orange plasma pokemon with sparks shooting out from its body like a pair of arms, frightened the shinx and caused them all to huddle together.

"What? Is this for real?!" Lucas said in disbelief. The cloaked girl snapped her fingers, the motion causing a purple pigtail to slide out from under the hood she wore. The open vortexes each disappeared suddenly.

"It's quite real, I'm afraid," the girl said, looking between the two and then settling her gaze on Dawn. "You...I highly advise you turn around and go home now."

Dawn, however, seemed largely undisturbed by the girl's sudden and bizarre appearance and regarded her outfit curiously. "Dark cloak, threats, uses ghost pokemon, you must be..." Dawn pointed her finger at the girl dramatically. "THE VILLAIN!" Lucas shot Dawn a shocked look, but was rendered completely speechless by how casually she seemed to take it.

"Villain, am I?" the girl giggled, covering her mouth with her hand and briefly revealing a black veil tied around her mouth to help conceal her features. "I suppose that depends on who you ask..."

"Ha! Typical villain talk! Trying to confuse the hero!" Dawn shot back.

_I get it now, there must be a hidden camera somewhere. Yeah, that's definitely it_, Lucas thought, looking around for any sign of said camera.

"All I want from you, Dawn, is for you to go home." the girl said tensely. "You have your video games, don't you? Just go home and play those and you will never have to hear from me again."

"Tempting." Dawn replied. "Just who are you, anyway?"

"If you need to call me something, then call me Dusk."

_Dawn...and Dusk. She definitely gave that name on purpose_, Lucas thought. _So maybe its not some kind of hoax and I was just pulled into some bizarre roleplay with Dawn and her friend._ Lucas glanced over toward the wild Shinx, still looking scared and confused, and frowned. _This might be going too far, though..._

"Hey, if it's Dawn you're after, then let those shinx go!" Lucas demanded, trying to sound tough.

Dusk shook her head. "I am afraid I can't do that. You see, those shinx will be your opponents if you refuse. Or rather..." A dark smile crossed Dusk's lips as she reached into her cloak, pulling out a strange amber-colored crystalline object. "Their evolved forms will be."

"Their evolved forms?" Lucas and Dawn said simultaneously.

"That's right. With this orb, I can force a pokemon to temporarily evolve." Dusk explained. "A pokemon forced to evolve this way will go berserk, attacking anything it sees until the effect wears off. Now, do keep in mind that I can do this to any number of pokemon and appear wherever I want much like I did just now."

_I really don't get this_, Lucas thought. _But it seems this Dusk girl really wants to scare Dawn enough to send her home...but why?_

Dawn, though, was thinking something very different, still unusually calm about the whole situation and smiling to herself. _Alright!_ she thought. _My first boss fight! Looks like the leader will even be color coded for my convenience!_

Dusk noticed the seemingly carefree attitude that Dawn seemed to have toward her threat and frowned. She knew Dawn was into video games, she could see everything from the dark abyss she emerged from, but had no idea how quickly Dawn would relate her experiences to a game. It was obvious to her, at this point, that Dawn was treating their encounter like a 'boss battle' and Dusk would have no choice but the carry through with her threat.

_Fine, be like that. Maybe a bunch of enraged luxio will change your mind_, Dusk thought, turning toward the group that her ghost pokemon still had cornered. The banette and rotom frowned, realizing they wouldn't get a chance to fight themselves. _Master, I apologize, but we may not be able to avoid going all out against her._

_Understood_, a voice said in Dusk's mind. _Do what you feel is necessary, perhaps this one time will be enough to dissaude her and we will not have to resort to more drastic measures._

Dusk held out the amber-colored object and closed her eyes, focusing. The orb glowed and a dark aura surrounded the frightened shinx. Their expression soon changed from being frightened to being in pain as a strange energy welled up inside their bodies. They then began to evolve, but unlike regular evolution a black glow surrounded their bodies rather than the usual white. The aura around them faded and, soon, so did the glowing. Where the shinx once stood there were now five luxio instead, all having a wild look in their eyes.

"And now, I bid you farewell," Dusk mumbled without looking back. With five berserk luxio on the loose now she was eager to escape before she had to deal with her own trap. Focusing, the amber-colored crystal glowed again and three vortexes opened underneath Dusk and her two pokemon. They fell into them, disappearing, and the vortexes immediately closed after.

_That girl has quite the power, I wouldn't mind the chance to study it more but_, Lucas looked at the group of luxio, which were now clawing and biting each other in their rage. _We have more pressing matters._ _Its only a matter of time before they turn on us, and they'll definitely do so if we send out our pokemon. We need to escape while we..._

"Bowser! Bridget! Go!" Dawn called out after taking a pokeball in each hand, releasing the turtwig and buneary from them. Once the two pokemon had appeared standing before their trainer, the wild luxio immediately took notice and growled at them. Bridget glared back at them and Bowser tensed for battle.

Lucas slapped his hand against his forehead. Plan B it is, then, he thought, taking his only pokeball from his belt. "Pips, go!" he then called out, releasing a completely expressionless piplup from the pokeball and then turning to Dawn.

"Dawn, I don't know where you got that second pokemon from, but try to hold off those luxio for as long as you can!"

"Got it!" Dawn said, a wide grin spread across her face. "Ok, you two, lets take out the minions first!" Dawn pointed at the group of luxio, which were now charging toward them with their fangs bared. "Get in there and attack the blue and black ones!"

Bridget turned his head away, ignoring Dawn's request, while Bowser immediately charged headlong toward the pack. When he looked around and realized he was charging alone, he quickly stopped and withdrew into his shell. The luxio descended upon him and tried biting and headbutting Bowser, but he was completely safe inside his shell.

_Well, that works as a distraction I guess_, Lucas thought. Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out a small blue disc and then glanced toward Dawn's buneary with a thoughtful expression. That buneary must not like her much for some reason, I wonder if it could use Frustration yet?

"You there, Buneary!" Lucas called out to him. Bridget looked toward Lucas with a raised eyebrow. "I know you don't seem to like Dawn, but you're in trouble here, too! If you can, use that hatred and attack those luxio with Frustration!"

"Bridget doesn't like me?" Dawn said, blinking in disbelief as she looked down at him. "Come to think of it, that would explain why he kept glaring at me back home..."

_...Meh, kid has a point I guess_, Bridget thought with a shrug. He charged into the pack of luxio that were still knocking around the withdrawn Bowser and immediately started attacking. Focusing his frustrations with Dawn into his attacks, he easily knocked one of the luxio several feet back with a well-aimed thrust of his ears. The luxio seemed to be knocked out instantly, but then suddenly reverted to shinx as a black mist rose from its body. The shinx got up and looked around, then immediately fled into the bushes.

_So they really will revert to shinx when that dark energy wears off_, Lucas thought, making note of it so he could report to Rowan later. While Bridget and Bowser were fighting, Lucas was busy using the disc he grabbed. He took out a flashlight-like device from his backpack next, the handle of which was slightly wider than the disc. He placed the disc in a small slot and pointed the device at his piplup, shining a blue light on his pokemon. I was hoping to save this for an ice-type pokemon, but I could really use this technique right now...

"That's it, Bridget! Keep it up!" Dawn called out, cheering on her pokemon. Bridget rolled his eyes.

"-Not doing this for you, doing this BECAUSE of you.-" Bridget muttered, turning and slamming his small right hand into another luxio as it tried to bite him. Still using his frustration to attack, he had enough power behind that punch to knock the luxio away with the same results as the first one. It reverted into a shinx and ran off.

A third luxio was moving to bite Bridget now, the group of them having forgotten about the seemingly harmless Bowser to attack him. Realizing he was free, though, Bowser was quick to repay the favor. Extending his back legs from his shell he thrust himself into the luxio attacking Bridget, knocking it to the ground and landing on top of it. The luxio struggled under Bowser as he emerged from his shell, a green glow surrounding Bowser's feet as he used his Absorb technique. The struggling soon stopped and Bowser hopped off as the luxio reverted to a shinx and ran off.

"-Well these guys don't seem too tough for evolved pokemon.-" Bowser said to Bridget.

"-Then they're not very strong to begin with.-" Bridget added, smashing his ears into the lower jaw of a fourth luxio. It staggered back, shaking its head, then fell to the ground. Soon, it too reverted to a shinx and quickly fled. "-Alright, that just leaves the gold one then.-"

As the two pokemon turned to face the final luxio, the one with the gold body and black fur, they received a shock - literally. The golden luxio fired a bolt of electricity at the ground between them, shocking both pokemon as the bolt was wide enough to reach. Both pokemon took a heavy hit, crying out in pain as Bridget fell onto his back and Bowser collapsed onto his side.

"It knows Thunderbolt?! But...but thats hardly fair! I can't be expected to deal with an attack that powerful this early!" Dawn whined, flailing her arms.

"I'm surprised you even recognized that attack, but in any case you never know what techniques a wild pokemon might pick up." Lucas said to her. "One of its parents could have known the technique, maybe it learned it after fighting a trainer, or maybe it used to be another trainer's pokemon. Though thats not likely since few trainers would give up an oddly-colored pokemon so easily."

"I'd catch it if I had any pokeballs. Or a license." Dawn mumbled disappointedly. As the wild luxio advanced on her pokemon she was suddenly reminded that she was supposed to be battling it. "Bowser, use..."

"Pips, jump and use Ice Beam, now!" Lucas called out, interrupting Dawn. Showing little enthusiasm, his piplup jumped into the air and aimed his beak down at the luxio. Luxio looked up at it and sparks gathered around its body as it prepared to launch another Thunderbolt, but piplup struck first and fired a blue beam down on top of it. Ice instantly formed around the top of the luxio's body, causing it to drop to the ground to try to break the ice instead of attacking. Pips then landed a few feet behind the luxio, looking completely unenthused by its success.

_Of course Lucas could have a pokemon use a high power technique like Ice Beam, he's a temporary party member!_ Dawn thought bitterly.

"Dawn! What are you waiting for?!" Lucas yelled at her. "Order Bridget and Bowser to attack, now!"

"Ok, you heard him!" Dawn called out to her pokemon. "Bridget, Frustration! Bowser, do that green glowy thing again!"

"-Might as well finish this.-" Bridget grumbled, moving toward the wild luxio to attack. Bowser remained where he was and focused, drawing out a green energy burst from luxio's body and absorbing it into his own. Bridget then coiled his ears and bent down, thrusting them into the fallen luxio's side. The ice surrounding it's body was instantly shattered and the force of the attack sent it rolling across the ground and flipped it over onto it's back.

Unlike what happened to the other four luxio, the remaining, alternately-colored luxio didn't instantly revert. Though a dark energy could be seen leaving it's body in the form of a black wisp of smoke, this was immediately followed by it being briefly surrounded by a white glow as if evolving. It didn't change any but the luxio immediately got up and took off running.

"That was odd...why didn't it unevolve like the others?" Dawn wondered.

_Hmm. That one didn't go down as easily, and it knew an unusual attack for a wild shinx_. Was it stronger than the others? Lucas wondered. _A gold shinx. No doubt many trainers tried to catch it, but each one that failed would have made it stronger. So maybe it was ready to evolve anyway and, by forcing it to evolve, whatever Dusk did triggered a natural evolution too?_

"Well who cares anyway? This was our first battle AND our first win!" Dawn grinned. "Let's hear it for us!" Dawn cheered and thrust her fist into the air, but neither of her pokemon showed as much enthusiasm. Bowser was exhausted from being repeatedly attacked and then hit with a Thunderbolt, and Bridget just didn't feel like celebrating with a trainer he didn't respect.

"You only won thanks to Pips, otherwise your pokemon wouldn't have been able to get past the luxio's Thunderbolt." Lucas said, then looked toward his piplup. "Right, Pips?"

"-...I guess.-" Pips replied unenthusiastically.

_Come to think of it, hasn't Pips been acting odd ever since that fight with Mesprit?_ Lucas thought, folding his arms and pondering. _That piplup used to be just as prideful as any other, its not like it to just downplay it's own victory like that..._

"Doesn't look like Dusk is showing up again." Dawn said, looking around. "Too bad, I wanted to rub that in her face."

_Speaking of which...who is she?_ Lucas wondered. _She wanted Dawn to go home, but why? And why didn't she attack us herself? She had a banette, so her pokemon must be strong, and a ghost user would have been hard for our pokemon to deal with at this point. Instead, she made it apparent that she planned to force-evolve more pokemon like those shinx if Dawn kept going, and that she could strike without warning. Its like she wants to scare Dawn into going home instead of forcing her to..._

"Dawn." Dawn blinked and looked over at Lucas as he addressed her. "This won't be the last time you run into Dusk like this, that much I can say for sure. And next time, I might not be around to help you so..."

"Forget it, I'm going!" Dawn replied, frowning as she folded her arms. "I can handle myself and I'll just head home as soon as I finish what I set out to do. So no worries."

Lucas sighed. _Had a feeling she would say that. Guess we keep going._

Lucas and Dawn recalled each of their pokemon and continued on their way, heading toward Jubilife. Their encounter with Dusk left them - or at least, Lucas - with many questions. Questions they wouldn't be able to answer until the next time they encountered the mysterious girl.

* * *

Author's Notes: Two 'shinies' in one chapter...though I swear the gold Luxio isn't showing up anytime in the future. And in Bridget's case, it was just to add to the overall feminity of the pokemon because the shiny version is pink. And a shiny Lopunny is even pinker. And more feminine because it looks like a playboy bunny. No points for guessing why he's named Bridget.

Tried to take Farla's advice into mind this chapter so hopefully the dialogue and grammar are a bit cleaner this time around. Next chapter, Dawn takes the test to become an official trainer so she can actually catch pokemon! Will she pass?

...well, it'd be an awfully short story if she didn't. Next chapter will also feature Dawn's first match against another trainer. On another note, any guesses as to the source of the powers Dusk showed off in this chapter?


	3. Chapter 3: License to Catch

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter Three**

**License to Catch**

_So Bowser can use Tackle, Withdraw, Absorb, and... Tickle. Bridget can use... a lot more than that, including a really strong Frustration attack!_ Dawn let out an exasperated sigh. _A max power Frustration means Bridget really doesn't like me..._

Like most trainers, Dawn's first stop with Lucas after arriving in Jubilife was the pokecenter. Both of Dawn's pokemon were thoroughly exhausted from their earlier battle. Rather than breaking out her DS, though, Dawn decided to take Lucas's advice and go over her pokedex instead. She would be on her own for future battles and would need to know what her pokemon were capable of. Sitting across from her, Lucas watched curiously.

_So her mother is Joanne, the contest star, and thats where she got her buneary_, Lucas thought, resting his head in his hand. _That doesn't explain why she's an absolute beginner. Her friend Barry has a talented trainer for a parent too and he definitely knows a thing or two at least. Its like she didn't learn anything from her mother at all, though._

"Miss! Your pokemon are ready!" the nurse running the front desk called out to Dawn. Dawn clipped the pokedex to her belt, using a hook meant for a pokeball, then got up and approached the front desk to retrieve her pokemon. She took the two pokeballs from the nurse and placed them on her belt.

"Thanks!" Dawn yelled, then quickly exited the building.

"She seems to be in quite the hurry..." Lucas mumbled, rubbing the back of his head.

* * *

"Ok, now, the pokemon school is...umm..." Dawn looked up and down the busy street next to the pokecenter, trying to spot the pokemon school. Skyscrapers towered overhead, belonging to important businesses. The tall buildings obscured the much smaller pokemon school from sight. Dawn sighed in frustration. "This city is too big, why couldn't it be small and open like Twinleaf?"

Hearing the familiar metallic whirring of a sliding door, Dawn turned around to see Lucas exiting the pokemon center behind her. "Dawn, don't run off like that. Do you even know your way around?"

"Hey! Unlike you, I'm actually from around here, you know!" Dawn shot back.

"Right." Lucas narrowed his eyes at her. "You have no idea where to go, do you? There was a town map inside the center, you know."

"Like I had time to read a map." Dawn muttered.

"I'll show you the way then." Lucas said to her. He walked past her to lead her toward the pokemon school, but then stopped and stared off down the road. Curious, Dawn looked past him to see what he was looking at. She could barely make out a suspicious figure in a brown trenchcoat up ahead of them, hiding behind a streetlight. They both watched as he darted across the street, taking refuge behind another one.

_That guy...what's he doing?_ Lucas wondered, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. With the stranger's back to him, Lucas approached him for questioning. Dawn, curious, followed behind him. "Hey, excuse me sir..."

The man turned with a start and jumped back. "WHAAAT?!" the man yelled, causing Dawn and Lucas to jump back as well. "How did you know? How did you unmask me as a member of the International Police?!"

"Umm, Lucas, did you actually know that when you approached this guy?" Dawn asked.

Lucas shook his head. "I was curious, that's all..."

The mysterious man regarded the two trainers curiously. "You claim you were curious, do you?" He then grinned and waved his finger. "But, I know better not to believe that. No, no, no. You recognized right away that I was someone extraordinary!"

_If anything, I thought it was pretty suspicious the way you were running around and hiding_, Lucas thought.

"Now that my cover has been blown, let me introduce myself. My name... no, my code name, it is Looker. Incidentally..." Looker looked toward Dawn. "Is the saying 'Don't be a thief!' familiar to you?"

_Actually, where I come from, I can usually waltz into people's homes and take anything of value without them saying a word. But I definitely don't want to say that to him!_ Dawn thought, deciding to just nod affirmatively in fear of saying the wrong thing.

Looker nodded. "Yes, that is correct. Taking what belongs to others is wrong." He looked about suspiciously. "Unfortunately, it seems in Sinnoh there are criminals stealing the pokemon of others. Ever since the incidents three years ago, the international police have been actively pursuing such thieves."

_Incidents three years ago?_ Dawn pondered for a moment and frowned. _I have absolutely no idea what he's talking about._

"Incidentally, as you two are trainers, yes? Perhaps it would be best for you to carry these." Looker reached into his trenchcoat and retrieved two small datapad-like devices with a pokeball-shaped camera mounted on top. He handed one each to Dawn and Lucas. "They are nifty devices called 'vs. recorders'. Trainers use them to record battles and upload to a special network. I believe they may also be useful for catching suspicious activity on camera."

"Makes sense I guess." Lucas said quietly, checking out the device. Using the touch screen, he accessed the battle network and looked through a list of recorded battles. _If I was to start battling competitively, this might be a good way to check out the competition..._

"And now I have a request for you two." Looker said. "If you were to see me again, I ask that you not talk to me, for I am on duty." He thought for a moment, then shook his head and corrected himself. "No, actually, you must talk to me and inform me of any bad guys you encounter!" Looker then glanced around and quickly set off, trying to blend in with the crowd as he went down the road.

"Working for the International Police must be hard." Dawn said, blinking.

_That guy still seems a bit off if you ask me_. Lucas thought, then shook his head and turned to face Dawn. "Nevermind that, let's get to the pokemon school already."

Lucas lead Dawn a short distance through the city, just down the road to the west of the pokemon center. It was a small building with a red roof, or small compared to many of the other buildings in Jubilife. Jubilife was known more for it's local television station and the poketch company than the small school that Dawn and Lucas now stood before. In fact, not many trainers actually attended the schools. Most of what they could learn in school they could learn from their parents, afterall. Trainers attending schools were often looking for more advanced lessons.

"Ah...I can't believe I couldn't see this place before." Dawn said, standing before the main entrance and looking up at the building. The words 'Jubilife City Trainer's Academy' were set above the door in large, bronze lettering. She looked back down at the door when she heard it open and caught a flash of a blonde haired boy just before getting bowled over by him. The boy stopped when he realized what had happened and looked back at her.

"Oh, hey! Sorry about that, Dawn! Didn't see ya there!" Barry said, grinning sheepishly. Lucas raised an eyebrow at him, mentally noting that this was now the second time in one day that Barry had literally ran into down.

"I gathered that," Dawn groaned. She slowly sat up and dusted herself off, then turned her head to glare at Barry. "What are you even doing here anyway?! You already have your license!"

"Right!" Barry grinned. "And now I have one of these too!" Barry held up his wrist and pointed to a fairly large, orange watch he was wearing. Dawn stared at it curiously, not knowing what it was.

"So you've got a poketch now? They were having a quiz contest at the school today for those, weren't they?" Lucas said to him.

Barry nodded quickly. "That's right! I had to answer questions for some dumb clowns, but they're giving them to anyone who gets a license today, too!"

_Having a watch would be better than getting out my DS whenever I want to check the time_, Dawn thought, stroking her chin.

"Well, you going to go take that test then?" Lucas said to Dawn. "I'll be waiting out here until you're done."

"Ha! You won't have to wait long!" Dawn shot back. She bolted to her feet and then went through the school's front doors, still open from when Barry burst out.

"So...why couldn't she just get one from the professor?" Barry asked Lucas.

Lucas shrugged. "Professor Rowan felt it'd be a good learning experience for her I suppose."

* * *

After going inside the school, Dawn talked to one of the teachers and was then lead to a small classroom to take her test in. She was the only one there when she sat down at one of the desks, but the teacher stayed to watch her while she wrote. Three sheets of paper awaited her on that desk. Two held general questions regarding pokemon, and a third, the first paper Dawn grabbed, dealt solely with pokemon types.

_This doesn't look so hard_, Dawn thought. _Let's see, first question: what three types make up the most basic of elemental triangles?_ Dawn thought for a moment, tapping her pencil against her chin. _A basic type triangle...it'd have to be something anyone could figure out on their own, right? Fire being weak to water is easy to figure out, 'cause water puts out fire. In that case..._

Dawn scribbled down her answer - fire, water, and grass - on the sheet and then looked at her next question. _What is the only type to resist dragon attacks and are dragons weak to attacks of this type in return?_ Dawn grinned. _Anyone who's ever played a fantasy RPG could tell you that you need steel sword and armor to beat a dragon!_ Satisfied with her answer, Dawn wrote it down, not knowing she was only half right.

_Yeah! This test will be a piece of cake!_ she thought confidently, quickly moving through the rest of the type-based questions and then onto the general pokemon questions. The answers to most of the questions on both parts seemed easy enough to her, either from knowledge of local pokemon or what she learned from video games, but she had no idea just how much what she thought she knew was true and how much was false.

Twenty minutes later, Dawn found herself moving on to the last pokemon question. _What tasty treat can be fed to any pokemon?_ Dawn didn't even take time to think over the question, instead quickly writing down 'poffin' as the answer. She knew that well due to her mother's past career. _And that's it! Done!_

Dawn got up from her desk, papers in hand and a huge grin on her face. She handed the papers to the woman sitting at the front desk and then headed out toward the main classroom to wait for her results. Along the way she heard a commotion out of a side room and took a quick peek inside.

That looks like...a battlefield? Dawn thought, blinking. The room she was looking into consisted almost entirely of a green-floored battlefield, a small one by league standards. There was barely room for anything else either, the battlefield took up almost all the available space in the room aside from a small section at the far end where a pair of benches lined the wall.

The battlefield was currently occupied, thus the commotion Dawn heard from the hall. On the left side of the field, a young boy in a yellow shirt and jeans commanded a starly to battle. On the right side, a young girl in a green dress was commanding a bidoof.

"Bidoof, use Defense Curl!" The girl's bidoof quickly curled up into a ball as the starly moved in to attack, flying in low and ramming into it. The bidoof rolled back from the impact while the starly pulled up again, then bidoof uncurled it's body and revealed itself to be nearly unharmed.

"Bidoof's simple nature allows it to receive double the benefit from buffing techniques, your attacks won't do anything to us!" the girl said with a smug grin.

"Oh yeah? Well it works both ways!" the boy called back. "Starly, Growl!" The starly flew back around to move in front of the girl's bidoof and then let out a growl. Bidoof cringed at the bird's growling, leaving it unable to muster it's full strength for an attack. "Thanks to that same ability, your bidoof won't be able to damage my pokemon either!"

_This battle could take awhile_, Dawn thought, grimacing. She quickly moved past the battle room, heading into the large main classroom. The main classroom was where the building's main entrance lead into as well. Usually there would be instruction in various pokemon battle techniques and methods for properly taking care of one's pokemon, but on this particular day there were three clowns accompanied by a rotund man in a blue business suit.

_They must be the ones Barry was talking about but...why clowns?_ Dawn wondered, staring dumbfoundedly at the three of them. Two clowns stood on one side of a small table at the front of the room, with the third clown and the businessman on the other side of the table. A large straw basket sat on the table, full of poketches of various colours.

"Excuse me, miss?" Dawn turned around to find the teacher that had taken her test standing with a perplexed look on her face. "I'm pleased to inform you that you managed to pass, but just barely."

"J-just barely?!" Dawn stammered in disbelief.

"With a required score of 65, you managed a 68," the teacher explained. "What really concerns me, though it makes no difference, is the nature of your answers. There is no rhyme nor reason to the questions you answered correctly or incorrectly, making it difficult to identify areas you may excel or falter in. Its as if your knowledge of pokemon is rather sporadic."

_Guess I didn't know as much as I thought I did_, Dawn thought nervously.

"Regardless, all that is left to do is for you to get your picture taken for your license. Oh, and because you're getting your license today, you may also pick out a poketch." The teacher then gestured toward the basket at the front of the room. "They had their own quiz campaign, but that managed to be even easier than our own exams anyway..."

_I don't have any room to say that exam was easy anymore_, Dawn thought, shoulders drooping. _At least I passed..._

* * *

Dawn was lead back into the same classroom, where the teacher had set up a camera. Her picture was taken, then used to print off her trainer's license. It was a small plastic card with her photo, name, and trainer id on the front, and eight slots on the back for gym badges if she decided to take the challenge. After getting her license she grabbed a red poketch with a white strap from the main classroom and headed out the door, where she was immediately greeted by Lucas and Barry.

"EH?! You didn't run off, Barry?!" Dawn shouted in disbelief when she stepped outside.

"Well...I wanted to see how it'd go!" Barry shot back, folding his arms. "So! How'd it go then?"

_Like he even needs to ask, there's no way Dawn passed_, Lucas thought, rolling his eyes.

"Like you even need to ask!" Dawn held up her license, eliciting surprised gasps from both of the boys. "I passed with flying colors!"

"WHAT?!" Lucas yelled, staggering back. "How...how could an idiot like you actually manage to get a trainer's license?!"

_He didn't have to be so blunt!_ Dawn thought, wincing.

"Bah! Who cares about that!" Barry grinned and pointed a finger at Dawn. "I've been waiting forever to say this. Dawn...I challenge you to a battle! Two pokemon each!"

"A trainer battle?" Dawn grinned. If there was any trainer she'd be able to beat, it'd be Barry. Afterall, he started the same time she did. There was no way he'd be able to overpower her easily! "I accept!" came here enthusiastic reply.

"Well, have fun with that. I'm going back to Sandgem now." Lucas mumbled, turning his back to the two.

"Already? Weren't you going somewhere?" Dawn asked him.

"I was, but there's a lot I have to report to Rowan already. I want to tell him everything that happened in person since I'm not far away yet." Lucas let out a sigh. "I'm sure I'll see you two later anyway." Lucas then headed off, leaving the two alone in front of the pokemon school.

I get the feeling that Lucas hates that I somehow passed the exam, Dawn thought, frowning.

"Ah, we don't need him anyway!" Barry said, clenching his fists determinedly. "This is between two childhood friends, to determine which of us is the better trainer! Dawn, let's go to Route 203 and battle there!"

Dawn nodded, barely completing one motion before Barry suddenly grabbed her by the hand and roughly dragged her through the city. For once, Dawn resigned herself to her fate, allowing Barry to drag her all the way to the route outside Jubilife. It wasn't like struggling had done her any good lately.

Once they were outside the city, Barry finally let go of Dawn but kept running himself. He ran down a paved path leading away from the city until suddenly skidding to a stop just over a dozen feet away and abruptly turning to face Dawn. He held out his hand, pokeball already drawn, while Dawn stared blankly.

"Hey, come on! You're totally ruining my groove here, Dawn!" Barry called out frantically. He cringed as Dawn then proceded to slowly and methodically reach for a pokeball and held it out in her hand. "Whatever then! Stariko, I choose you!" The ball in Barry's hand opened up, releasing a beam straight up into the air. The beam materialized into a small white and black bird pokemon, flapping it's wings to stay airborn.

"Bridget! I! Choose! You!" Dawn called out in an overly dramatic fashion, spinning around once before holding her arm stretched out and releasing Bridget from his pokeball. A pinkish, grumpy-looking buneary appeared on the pavement with his arms folded in front of him.

"-Oh, a trainer battle now?-" Bridget snorted. "-We could have been doing this a good year ago you lazy brat.-"

"Whoa! You have a rare-color pokemon already?!" Barry exclaimed in disbelief. "Man, that hardly seems fair..."

_I would gladly trade it for your chimchar_, Dawn thought. She didn't think Barry would actually go for that, however. Especially once he saw Bridget in battle.

"Ok, let's start already! Stariko, Wing Attack!"

"Bridget, wait for it and counter with Frustration!"

Barry's starly dove down toward Bridget, aiming slightly to the right of the rabbit pokemon. Bridget didn't even make an attempt to dodge, or even attack. Stariko's wing struck Bridget in the side, knocking him off balance briefly, and Stariko then pulled up and flew back into the air.

"-That hurt slightly.-" Bridget grumbled, straightening up. "-Still, I'd rather get beat up at this point then let Dawn get a win over another trainer.-"

_Those two really don't get along well_, Stariko thought, a glint in his eye. _Their feuding shall be my victory!_

"Eh!? Bridget, you were supposed to attack!" Dawn yelled frantically. Bridget let out a 'hmph' and turned his head to the side. "Stubborn little...just hit it already!"

_Dawn might have gotten a rare pokemon, but it won't listen to her at all!_ Barry thought, grinning to himself. "Stariko, now's our chance! Wing Attack!" Stariko dove down toward Bridget again, wings stretched out and a wild look in his eyes as he prepared to attack again. Stariko flew past Bridget from the side this time, his left wing striking across Bridget's back. Bridget stumbled forward, but then quickly spun around to strike Stariko from behind with his ear and sent the bird pokemon crashing into the ground.

Stariko quickly picked himself up, shaking off the hit, then turned and glared at Bridget. "-So! You have some fight in you afterall?!-"

"-Oh, I have plenty of fight in me.-" Bridget said, glaring right back at him. "-If I was being serious, I would have used Frustration instead of just Pound, and let me tell you I have a LOT of frustration to pound you with!-"

"Heh! So it attacked, but we can take a lot more than that!" Barry called out to Dawn. "Stariko, strike with Quick Attack! We won't let it get another hit!"

"Bridget, Endure it!" Dawn called out, hoping Bridget would listen to her. Thanks to the pokedex, she knew Endure would let Bridget survive any hit once even if just barely.

Fine, I want to take another shot at this guy now anyway, Bridget thought. He braced himself as Stariko flapped his wings to get up off the ground. Stariko then sped toward Bridget in a flash of movement, striking him in the face and knocking him over. The attack left Bridget with much of his strength drained, but he quickly hopped back up on his feet despite that.

"-My turn.-" Bridget growled, chasing off after Stariko. Stariko looked back and started to pull up when he saw Bridget chasing him. Bridget wouldn't be so easily stopped, however. Ears coiled, he jumped up after the starly, quickly catching up to him. Once Bridget was directly under Stariko he thrust his ears straight up, striking the starly with a harsh blow from below. Stariko cried out, getting pushed further up first and then plummeted toward the ground, landing with his beak stuck in the dirt. Bridget gracefully landed next to him, but then fell to his knees.

"HEY! That one hurt, you!" Barry called out, shaking his fist at Dawn. "Stariko, don't stand there and take it! Strike back! Tackle, Quick Attack, Wing Attack, I don't care! Just hit it!"

"Oh, come on! I didn't even order an attack!" Dawn shot back. _Speaking of which, did he seriously just list off all of his pokemon's techniques?_

Stariko pulled his beak out of the ground and shot a glare at Bridget. "-You almost had me...now take this!-" Stariko launched himself into Bridget, tackling him to the ground. Bridget gasped as he felt a sharp pain in his back and immediately lost consciousness. Dawn let out a sigh and recalled him.

_If only he'd listen to me we could have beaten that stupid starly!_ Dawn thought bitterly, putting Bridget's pokeball back on her belt and taking Bowser's in her hand. _At least I know Bowser will listen to me!_

"Bowser, I choose you!" Dawn called out, releasing Bowser from his pokeball. The grass turtle materialized and quickly looked around, spotting the starly off to the side of him and blinking in surprise.

"-Aren't I at a disadvantage here?-" he said, then happened to notice Barry standing nearby and blinked again. "-Doesn't he have Chariko, too? If this is a trainer battle, I think we've lost.-"

Stariko turned to face Bowser, a wild look in his eyes. "-You don't have to worry about Chariko, I will be more than enough for you!-" Despite such a bold claim, though, even Bowser could tell that the little bird was in pretty rough shape.

_I almost feel sorry for her, down to Bowser against my Stariko and Chariko_, Barry thought, grinning slightly. He pointed a finger toward Bowser and called out his next attack. "We can take this one too! Stariko, Wing Attack!"

"Bowser, use Absorb!" Dawn commanded, hoping the attack would be enough to finish the weakened starly. Stariko quickly hopped toward Bowser and struck him in the head with his wing. Bowser recoiled but quickly shook it off and focused. He began to absorb energy out of Stariko's body, a small green stream visible flowing between them. Stariko cried out in pain and collapsed, but Barry quickly recalled him and prepared to send out his next pokemon without missing a beat.

"Chariko, your turn now!" Barry called out, holding Chariko's pokeball in his hand. "Go!" The pokeball opened and a red beam shot out, materializing into an orange furred monkey pokemon. Chariko cheered loudly and hopped from one foot to the other.

"-Oh boy! I get to battle against Bowser now?!-" Chariko said excitedly.

_Wish I could be as excited as him, but I'm the one with a type disadvantage here_, Bowser thought, rolling his eyes.

We're against a fire pokemon now, so there's only one thing we can do, Dawn thought, nodding to herself. "Ok, Bowser, weaken Chariko with Tickle!" Bowser nodded and took off running, or moving as fast as he could at any rate. The small gap between him and Chariko was quickly closing, but one wouldn't even need to walk briskly to keep up.

"Tickle?" Barry repeated, blinking. He quickly shook his head and called out an attack. "Chariko, use Ember! It won't be able to take many of those!" Chariko nodded enthusiastically and blasted Bowser with a small fireball from his mouth. The fireball struck Bowser in the face, stunning him briefly as sparks scattered from the impact. Bowser was so close to Chariko now that some of the sparks almost reached the fire pokemon.

See, now why can't Bowser use an attack like that? Dawn wondered, pouting. Bowser, meanwhile, continued on the attack and threw his body into Chariko's chest, tackling him to the ground. "Eh?! Wait, Bowser! I said TICKLE, not TACKLE!" Dawn yelled in frustration.

"-Yeah, I heard her say 'tickle' too.-" Chariko said, blinking up at Bowser.

"-Really? Must have been wishful thinking on my part then.-" Bowser said, frowning.

"Nevermind then, just attack it with Absorb now!" Dawn called out. Bowser was much more enthusiastic about this technique and immediately a green glow surrounded both pokemon. From his position, Bowser was able to instantly absorb energy from Chariko through his feet. The fire monkey pokemon winced in pain.

"Chariko, knock it off with Scratch!" Chariko clenched his teeth and raised one hand, then took a swipe at Bowser. Chariko's claws raked the side of Bowser's face, knocking him aside and allowing Chariko to jump back onto his feet.

"Now finish with Ember!" Barry called out quickly. While Bowser himself was still getting up after being tossed off Chariko, Chariko turned and fired another Ember attack at him. Bowser cried out in shock as another fireball struck him in the face and then fell over, a dazed look in his eyes as he briefly lost consciousness.

"On reflection, this outcome shouldn't surprise me," Dawn said to herself. She let out a sigh and recalled Bowser, then placed his pokeball back on her belt.

"Alright, Chariko! We won!" Barry cheered, thrusting his hand into the air. Chariko hopped up and down excitedly. Barry then quickly lowered his hand and pointed his finger at Dawn. "And now we know who the better trainer between us is, 'cause I'm only going to get even stronger!"

Dawn forced a smile. "Yeah, you won, way to go."

"Chariko, let's keep going now!" Barry said to his pokemon, turning his back to Dawn and pointing toward a cave far off in the distance. "Next stop, Oreburgh City and our first badge!"

"-Oh boy! I can't wait!-" Chariko cheered. Barry then ran off, hurrying as usual while Chariko kept pace beside him.

_Those two really are a good match. Barry definitely wouldn't trade Chariko_, Dawn thought in dismay. _I need to get my pokemon healed now before I can go anywhere, and then I need to figure out where to get a pokemon with hands..._

Dawn turned around and headed back into the city, quickly moving toward the pokemon center. She found herself stopping outside instead, however, as she stumbled across a pair of boys crowded around a third boy showing off a pokemon. The pokemon looked like a small, gray-skinned humanoid with a fairly muscular body. Dawn immediately noticed the pokemon had pair of hands and crept closer to listen in on the boys, hiding from view beside the pokecenter.

"Wow! That pokemon looks strong!" one of the boy's commented, watching the muscular pokemon flex and pose for the two.

"Yeah, really strong! I bet he could bench press my dad!" the other boy said. "Where'd you find it?"

"Heh!" the pokemon's owner rubbed under his nose. "Ain't it one hell of a 'mon? It's called 'machop' and I found it on Route 207, just north of Oreburgh!"

What a fortunate coincidence! Dawn thought, grinning from ear to ear. I'll heal up my pokemon, then, and head straight to Oreburgh!

The end of her quest seemingly in sight, Dawn came out of hiding and walked past the boys, heading straight into the pokecenter. In her mind, she knew she'd need her pokemon healed for this journey. She was likely to encounter Dusk at least a few times before reaching Oreburgh. Afterall, her quest simply couldn't end after only one encounter with the villain.

* * *

Author's Notes: This is the second chapter now where I backed out of having Dawn catch a Starly. Last chapter was going to have a fully evolved Staraptor in place of a group of Luxio originally, and then I thought of having her catch one at some point in this chapter but it just seemed kinda forced. I'd still like for her to catch one, I just don't know when.

Needless to say, Dawn's next capture is going to be a Machop. While coming up with a gaming-related nickname for a fighting pokemon should be fairly easy, I wouldn't mind getting some input. If anyone has any ideas for a gaming-related Machop nickname, feel free to drop me a line in some form.

This chapter marks Dawn's first trainer battle and her first loss. Of course, it's not too unusual for a trainer to lose their first battle to their rival in fics. Naturally, by that same precedence, Dawn couldn't possibly lose her first gym battle! Whenever that happens.


	4. Chapter 4: Optional Battle

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter Four**

**An Optional Battle**

The next day found Dawn in a new city, and a new pokecenter. Specifically, the pokemon center in Oreburgh. She had already handed over her pokemon for healing and then sat down in the waiting room, taking out her DS while she waited. The trip to Oreburgh had been surprisingly rough.

_Been a while since I played this game, and after quick saving on the tenth floor too_, Dawn thought. On the bottom screen of her DS, her character moved through a three-dimensional labyrhinth in a first person view. _As hard as the enemies can be in this game, it's still not as bad as those stupid zubats!_

Swarms of zubats were Dawn's primary source of trouble getting to Oreburgh. First she encountered geodudes, but Bowser had no trouble at all against those. He easily fought off any of the living rocks that decided to attack them. Zubat, however, had many advantages against Bowser. Dawn was forced to rely on Bridget, who helped her out about half the time and let the zubat chase her the other half.

_I'll be happy when I get my machop and never have to see another zubat again!_ Dawn thought, clenching her DS tightly in frustration. Her eyes widened when she suddenly heard the music change tone, indicating a random encounter. _Ack! No! Need to focus!_

Dawn frantically pressed at the buttons and let out a sigh of relief when the victory tone sounded. She continued on through her game, wandering around the labyrinth a bit longer, when eventually it occurred to her that her pokemon were taking quite a while to heal. Looking around the waiting room, she finally noticed that there were a lot of other trainers that had been there before her.

Wait...what's the hold up here anyway? Dawn wondered. Closing her DS, she tapped the shoulder of a boy sitting next to her to get his attention. "Excuse me, what's with the crowd here?"

The boy blinked in disbelief and looked at her as if she had two heads. "What do you mean what's with the crowd? Don't you know?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't have asked you." Dawn replied, trying not to let the bitterness show in her tone.

"Roark's back in the gym today, so everyone's challenging him while they have the chance," the boy explained. "He spends a lot of time down in the mines or the underground, so people end up waiting around a lot to battle him. When he does return to the gym he gets a lot of challengers."

_He doesn't sound like a very serious gym leader_, Dawn thought.

Dawn went back to playing her game, exploring the labyrinth on her screen for a little while longer before the nurse finally called her up to the desk. She retrieved her pokemon and thanked the nurse, then headed out of the pokecenter. Making a brief stop by the local pokemart to pick up a few pokeballs, Dawn headed toward the city's northern exit and onto Route 207.

"Now...where would I find a machop here?" Dawn wondered, staring out at the grassy valley stretched out before her. Aside from the path leading back to Oreburgh, it was surrounded entirely by steep hills. Catching movement out of the corner of her eye, Dawn glanced toward one area of the hill in time to see two fiery horses running straight up it and out of sight.

"Now that's a pokemon I wouldn't mind catching but I guess I missed my chance." Dawn said, letting out a wistful sigh. "I guess it makes no difference. Bowser couldn't take them, and Bridget probably wouldn't help me catch any pokemon either."

Dawn scanned the valley again, trying to take note of anywhere that a machop could be hiding. The grass was fairly tall, easily able to hide smaller pokemon such as a geodude or kricketot, but Dawn was sure she'd see a machop's head poking out if there were any. There were a few scattered trees as well, where the grass became much shorter around their base. The area below the hills wasn't very large and Dawn could easily see from one end to the other, not leaving much room for a pokemon like machop to hide if not behind something.

_Behind one of those trees, maybe?_ Dawn thought. _If not, then I'd have to get up this hill somehow to get to the rest of the route I guess..._

Dawn moved closer to one of the trees, which she could see some kind of berry growing from. As she approached it she could hear the sound of something banging against it from the other side. Hopeful, she took a pokeball from her belt and released Bowser. She placed a finger over her mouth, motioning for him to keep quiet. The two of them then crept around the tree, the banging getting louder. Dawn tensed, ready to order an attack so she could catch her machop.

"Bowser! Use...eh?!" Dawn suddenly felt the enthusiasm drained out of her as she rounded the tree only to find a geodude jumping at it. The geodude stopped when it saw them and glared. Dawn was dismayed at first but soon a wicked grin spread across her lips.

"Well, well, well...a lone geodude, huh? No zubats to save you out here!" Dawn said, giggling almost insanely.

_I think she's losing it, but then again I can't blame her. If I ever see a zubat again it'll be too soon_, Bowser thought. He moved in front of Dawn to confront the wild geodude, crouching down and readying himself for battle as well.

The wild geodude made the first move, leaping toward Bowser. Dawn immediately called out an attack. "Bowser, use Razor Leaf!" Bowser quickly spun his head, sending a trio of sharp leaves at the approaching geodude. The geodude cried out in pain as the leaves ripped across it's body, throwing it back through the air. It disappeared into the tall grass beyond the tree and a pained grunt could be heard when it hit the ground, but it didn't sound at all like the geodude.

"What was that?" Dawn wondered aloud. Just then, the geodude was suddenly launched into the air again and a groggy-looking machop stood up from the tall grass, only it's head visible. Dawn's jaw dropped when she saw it, she didn't even consider the possibility of a machop lying down in the grass.

"-Damn geodudes, thinking they can fly..." the machop muttered. Looking around, he quickly spotted Dawn and Bowser near the tree and frowned. "-Trainer. That explains it. No respect for machops trying to rest after a hard workout.-"

Dawn quickly took her pokedex off her belt and scanned the machop, then read what aloud her pokedex said. "Fighting pokemon, species is 'superpower'. We'll want to keep our distance and spam projectile attacks." Dawn clipped the pokedex back to her belt and pointed toward the machop. "Ok, Bowser, hit it with Razor Leaf and don't let up!"

"-At least we found it easily enough!-" Bowser said, spinning his leaf and launching several more sharp leaves. This time, Bowser aimed at the machop that had emerged from the tall grass. The sharp leaves spun through the air, cutting down the grass before finally striking machop. The grass had weakened the attack slightly, landing only a light hit on machop as a result.

"-My turn.-" the machop said, charging toward Bowser with it's arms crossed in front of it's face. Bowser was able to get off one more attack just before the machop was in melee range, sending several sharp leaves slicing across the machop's arms and body. It shrugged them off and then raised one hand, bringing it down on top of Bowser's head in a chopping motion. The attack smashed Bowser's head into the ground and he staggered back in a daze.

It really does have a lot of power, but we'll catch it now! Dawn thought, reaching into her travel bag and taking out one of the pokeballs she had just bought. "Machop! You're mine now!" Dawn called out, hurling the pokeball at the wild machop. The machop looked up just in time for the ball to smack it in the face, firing out a beam and pulling it inside.

Dawn clenched her fist tightly. _At a critical moment like this...I have no buttons to hold!_ she thought. The pokeball fell to the ground and started to shake as the machop tried to break free. After a few shakes, though, a clicking noise was heard. The pokeball had locked shut, sealing the machop inside.

Dawn blinked. "I...we did it? We caught the pokemon with hands like a human on the first try?"

"-That's fine by me,-" Bowser grunted, wincing as he stood up. "-That machop knew where to hit, and was definitely no pushover...-"

"But...is this really it? My quest is over already?" Dawn looked around frantically. "No boss battle, no obscenely powerful random encounters, not even a second appearance by that Dusk girl. Are we maybe not done yet?"

_I don't know where she gets her ideas_, Bowser thought, narrowing his eyes at her. _Also, who is Dusk anyway? I don't think anyone ever explained that to me._

"...Then again," Dawn mumbled. "Dusk wanted me to go home. So I guess I'm kinda playing into her hands now, but that new Mario game tells me I don't care." Dawn nodded to herself and turned to Bowser. "Ok, let's stop by the pokecenter again and rest up so we can head home!"

Bowser nodded. "-Guess our adventure is over already then. Too bad.-"

* * *

Dawn headed straight back to the Oreburgh pokemon center and handed over the pokeballs containing Bowser and her recently caught machop to the nurse at the front desk. Bridget had yet to even leave his pokeball since the last visit so Dawn didn't bother handing his over. After turning over her pokemon she sat down in one of the chairs in the waiting area and took her DS out of her travel bag.

Shortly after she had sat down, a familiar face arrived in the pokemon center. A blonde-haired boy entered the pokemon center and headed straight for the front desk to hand over two pokeballs. He then turned around and spotted Dawn playing her DS in the waiting area and approached her.

"Dawn?! What are you doing in Oreburgh?" the boy asked her in a surprised tone. Dawn looked up from her DS and frowned. It was Barry. "Don't tell me you're here to challenge the gym leader!"

Why do I keep running into this guy?! Dawn wondered, her left eye twitching. She quickly shook her head. "I came here because there was a pokemon nearby I wanted to catch, I definitely have no interest in challenging the gym leader!" Dawn shot back, closing her DS screen to put it in sleep mode.

"Eh..." Barry shrugged. "You'd just lose if you tried anyway."

"Oh?" Dawn narrowed her eyes at him. "And how did you do then?"

"Err...well..." Barry turned away and rubbed the back of his head in embarassment.

"So...you lost?"

"Beating a rock-type gym leader is difficult when you only have a starly and a chimchar," Barry mumbled. "It was a two on two match, since I only had two pokemon, but his onix beat them both. I think I'll head to Eterna next and try the gym there..."

"Miss? Your pokemon are ready," the nurse called out to Dawn. Dawn got up without another word and headed toward the front desk.

"So I guess you'll be going home now that you found the pokemon you were looking for, huh?" Barry asked as she walked away. Dawn stopped for a moment, then turned to him with a smile on her face.

"Something like that, Barry. Something like that..."

* * *

A few minutes later and Dawn found herself standing outside the Oreburgh City Gym, a large gray building with a rocky texture to the outside walls.

"Before I go home, I think I'll try battling this guy for myself." Dawn snickered to herself. "Barry lost because he was at a severe type disadvantage, but I now have two pokemon that can beat rock-types! I won't even have to rely on Bridget, which is good since he wouldn't listen!"

Dawn then proceeded to open the door and step inside, expecting to find the gym empty since there seemed to be no one outside waiting to get in. Instead, she found there was already a battle going on.

"Onix! Rock Throw!" a man with reddish hair and a hard hat called out. On the rock strewn battlefield, an incredibly large snake pokemon made entirely of rocks gave a roar and flicked it's tail toward a small bird pokemon with red and brown feathers. Several small rocks were launched toward it, but the bird quickly dove down and then turned it's body to climb back up into the air again.

"Stabs, finish this now! Steel Wing!" the bird's trainer called out, a blonde-haired girl wearing a black, hooded sweater and matching sweat pants. Dawn immediately noticed that the girl seemed old, really old for someone challenging a gym leader with such a weak-looking bird pokemon. The girl was at least in her mid-to-late teens.

_So the guy with the hard hat must be Roark, the rock-type gym leader_, Dawn thought, then looked at the two pokemon. _Onix I recognize easily enough, but that bird pokemon doesn't look like its from around here._ Dawn frowned. _It looks like a bird responsible for the death of many ninjas, though._

The small bird pokemon, which the trainer had nicknamed 'Stabs', dove down toward the gym leader's, it's wings taking on a metallic sheen. Stabs flew slightly to the side, striking the large rock pokemon in the head with it's Steel Wing attack as it flew to the side. The onix roared in pain and fell to the ground, unconscious. The bird soon landed on it's head, looking rather pleased with it's victory.

Dawn's jaw dropped completely. _Ninjas...AND solid snakes, apparently!_

"You surprise me again...that bird of your's is quite something," the gym leader said as he recalled his pokemon. Stabs started flapping it's wings, hovering where the onix had been. "To take down two of my pokemon when they had the advantage...I think I've underestimated you. To think I had confused you for a beginner."

"I've been a trainer for years now. Neither I, nor my pokemon, are new to this," the girl replied flatly.

"Well, seems you're the first person today to even get as far as this pokemon in a three on three match," Roark said as he took his final pokeball in his hand. "Cranidos!" The pokeball opened and out came a bipedal, rock-skinned lizard pokemon. It scraped at the ground with it's right foot and brandished it's incredibly hard head at the spearow.

"Cranidos, Headbutt!"

"Stabs, overpower it with Drill Peck!"

The two pokemon charged toward each other, Roark's cranidos lowering it's head and Stabs starting to spin around in a corkscrew. As Stabs spun, a whirlwind formed around it and dust was drawn in, giving the small bird pokemon the appearance of a spinning wind drill. The two pokemon collided, the cranidos pushing hard against the bird's drilling motion. They put all their might into their attacks until, finally, Stabs was thrown back through the air and fell to the ground. After beating both of Roark's previous pokemon on it's own, the bird was out cold.

"Hmm. I thought we'd be able to overpower it." The challenger shrugged to herself, recalling her spearow. "Well, I forfeit then. I had merely intended to use this as an opportunity to train Stabs anyway."

"You...err..." Roark blinked in disbelief and rubbed the back of his neck. The challenger was already heading for the door. "Guess that's it then, good job Cranidos." Roark then proceeded to recall Cranidos, who seemed more than a little disappointed that it was over so soon.

After recalling his pokemon, Roark turned toward Dawn and waved to her. "Hey, you must be the next challenger then. I'll be with you in a minute." Roark then headed into the gym's back room to heal his pokemon in preparation for Dawn's match. Dawn didn't say anything to him before her left as she was more interested in the blonde girl walking toward her.

"Hey! You still had two pokemon left, didn't you?" Dawn asked the girl. "If the rest of your pokemon were..."

"Just stop there, I'm not interested in badges," the girl said, cutting her off. She pushed past Dawn without another word and left the gym, slamming the door closed behind her as if to ensure Dawn wouldn't get in any final words before she was gone.

"That was kinda...rude." Dawn shook her head and then looked around the gym's battlefield. Fifty feet long, stretching straight out from where she stood, and half that across. The side closest to her was where she, the challenger, would stand just like the girl before her. The field itself was open ground, but with large rocks scattered around and stalagmites jutting up. Glancing up, she also saw a few decorative stalactites on the ceiling. Fake stalactites, she was hoping.

Roark soon emerged from his office, at which point Dawn scrambled to the challenger's position in front of the gym's battlefield. "So, before we start this battle, are you going to at least tell me your name?" Roark asked Dawn.

_My name? Maybe I should have prepared an introduction instead of admiring the field._ Dawn thought it over for a moment, putting together an introduction in her head that she was sure Roark wouldn't soon forget. She took a pokeball in her hand before she made her introduction.

"My name is Dawn...I am a trainer...and eleven years old." She held out the pokeball, releasing her recently caught machop out onto the field. "Jax, GO!" After releasing her pokemon, Dawn's shoulders slumped at the realization that her introduction came out sounding incredibly normal aside from her awkward pauses.

"I...see." Roark pushed up his glasses and took a pokeball in his gloved hand. "I'm Roark and, as the gym leader, I will need to see your potential as a trainer. It will be a three on three match, starting now. Geodude, go!" Roark pressed the button on his pokeball, releasing a living rock pokemon out onto the rocky battlefield.

"-Hold up. I was just caught...and already being made to battle a trainer?-" Jax said, blinking in disbelief and glancing bac at his new trainer. "-I don't even know this girl yet, this battle couldn't possibly end well for me.-"

"Geodude, you know the drill! Set up!" Roark called out to his pokemon. Geodude immediately slammed the ground with his hard fists, sending four large rock spikes flying into the air. The spikes shot back toward the ground, burying themselves in the field near Jax.

That attack did...what exactly? Dawn wondered, blinking. "Nevermind... Jax, Focus Energy!"

"-Speaking of that, I didn't even get a say in my own name.-" Jax grumbled. Crossing his arms in front of him, Jax focused his power. "-Hard workout lifting geodudes in the morning, laze around in the sun all afternoon. I already want to go back to that life.-"

_Hey, that geodude still seems to be doing something_, Dawn thought. After firing the stones, Roark's geodude had slammed it's fists together and was shaking as it put immense force between them. The geodude's body was glowing as well, becoming more smooth. _Is this more of that set-up that Roark mentioned?_ Dawn wondered.

"Jax, attack with Low Kick!" Dawn called out, eyes watching geodude curiously to see if anything would come of the glowing. Jax lowered his arms and charged toward Roark's geodude.

"Geodude, roll back and use Rock Throw!" As Jax charged toward it, Roark's geodude suddenly flung itself backwards. While in the air it reached down, picking up several small pebbles and using it's momentum to hurl them at Jax. Jax barely flinched as the rocks bounced off his body, continuing on the attack. Jax didn't seem to be gaining any ground though, the geodude was rolling away faster than Jax could run and heading straight for a stalagmite.

"Ok, geodude, now Tackle from the ceiling!" Roark called out, wearing a wide grin on his face.

Well that has to be one of the stupidest attacks I've heard, but I haven't been in this long, Dawn thought.

The technique turned out to be far less stupid than Dawn would have hoped. As geodude bounced back, it hit the boulder and then used it's momentum to throw itself off the top and straight up into the air. Jax stopped, watching in amazement as the geodude flew straight up.

After throwing itself up, the geodude reached one of the stalactites on the ceiling and grabbed onto the tip with it's hands. The geodude swung around, building up momentum, then launched itself straight down at Jax. Jax stared in shock as the geodude plummeted toward him, the very idea of a geodude being able to pull off such a maneuver seeming absurd to him. Jax soon felt the harsh reality as the geodude slammed into his chest on an angle, throwing him onto his back from the powerful blow.

"Jax!" Dawn called out desparately to her pokemon, shocked to see it seemingly go down already. She held out Jax's pokeball, getting ready to recall it, but after a few seconds Jax started to get back up. It was a struggle for him, still feeling an immense pain in his chest from where the geodude struck.

"That was a special technique I developed with this geodude," Roark explained to Dawn. "Using the gym's terrain in tandem with Rock Polish, geodude can manage an immensely powerful Tackle. It's overkill against a weaker pokemon like a starly, but it seems your machop still has some strength left."

Dawn gulped nervously, thinking to herself how fearsome an opponent a gym leader could be. "W...well if Jax can still fight, we'll keep going! Jax, Karate Chop!"

"-That's...easy for you to say.-" Jax grunted, slowly raising one hand as he moved toward the grinning geodude.

"Geodude, don't give it the chance! Tackle again!" Roark's geodude threw itself at Jax again, but this time Jax was ready. He brought his hand into the approaching geodude in a downward chopping motion just as geodude was slamming into him. The end result was Jax getting thrown to the ground again, this time for good, and the geodude getting smashed into the ground like a slam dunk. Jax's last ditch attack even managed to leave geodude a little dazed.

_Well that wasn't too bad when I think about it, I guess,_ Dawn thought as she recalled Jax. _I probably could have done a lot better if I spent time getting ready before this battle. Should have went with Karate Chop to start for one, and maybe I could have used that to counter his polish-ceiling-tackle-thing..._

Dawn quickly took another pokeball in her hand, taking the obvious choice of grabbing Bowser's pokeball from her belt. "Bowser, I know you can handle this one! Go!" she called out, releasing the grass turtle pokemon onto the field. Bowser looked around when he materialized and blinked in disbelief.

"-It couldn't be...the fabled 'gym match'?-" Bowser said, his tone a mix of confusion and yet excitement. He didn't have much time to be excited, though, before the first 'attack' was made. The pointed rocks from before suddenly popped up out of the ground, homing in on him and slashing across his body. Bowser cried out in pain and the rocks quickly retreated back into the ground nearby after striking him.

"What the?!" Dawn cried out in confusion.

"Stealth Rocks," Roark explained. "After they've been set up, they emerge whenever a new pokemon is released by the opponent and attack once."

Great. Something else to watch out for, Dawn thought, wincing. "Bowser, let's finish this in one move! Razor Leaf!" Bowser nodded, quickly launching several leaves at Roark's geodude in retalliation for the Stealth Rocks. The geodude tried to use it's increased agility to avoid the swarm of sharp leaves, but two stray leaves still managed to slash it and knock it out cold. Roark quickly recalled his pokemon.

"One for one so far, but can you keep it up?" Roark said to Dawn, taking out another pokeball to continue the match. "Onix, your turn now!" he said, pressing the button and releasing a giant rock snake onto the field.

"-You know, if that thing wasn't another rock pokemon, I might actually be worried.-" Bowser said to himself.

"We can take this one down the same way! Razor Leaf!"

"I don't think so! Onix, Harden!"

Bowser spun his head around several times, launching a flurry of sharp leaves to compensate for the vast size difference between the two pokemon. By the time the leaves had reached it, however, the onix had already hardened it's body against the attack. With it's already strong defenses, the rock snake pokemon was easily able to withstand the attack in spite of a crippling weakness to grass-type techniques.

_Well attacking the onix's strongest point won't get me anywhere, that's for sure!_ Dawn thought. She knew the difference between physical and special attacks, comparing the two to the physical and magical attacks of most RPG's, and knew from her pokedex that Bowser had one special-oriented attack to use. "In that case...let's use Absorb!"

"Wrong again!" Roark called out with a smirk. "Onix, Sandstorm!" Roark's onix roared loudly, releasing a blast of sand from it's mouth that began to swirl around the gym in a blowing sandstorm. A green glow surrounded the pokemon's body as Bowser began to draw energy from it, but sand clumping on the surface of the onix's body dampened the attack. Bowser was still able to absorb some energy from it, causing the onix to growl in pain, but not as much as he would have originally.

_He can weaken special attacks too?!_ Dawn thought in disbelief. _Great...I wonder if pokemon can learn set-damage or defense-ignoring attacks?_

"Now! Bind it, Onix!" While Dawn was thinking over her next move, Roark continued his attack. The giant rock pokemon moved toward Bowser with surprising speed and coiled the tail end of it's body around him. Bowser cried out in pain as the onix's rocky body then proceeded to squeeze him tightly.

"Bowser, Absorb!" Dawn called out, hoping to get a stronger effect from the technique with Bowser now in the rock pokemon's grip. Bowser tried to focus, a green glow briefly surrounding the part of the onix's body squeezing him. It quickly faded though, the pain was too much for Bowser to bear. As the onix squeezed him, Bowser felt his strength draining away, and the sand still blasting him in the face from the sandstorm wasn't helping either.

_No good! Between the sandstorm and the Bind technique, Bowser just doesn't have the focus to pull off another Absorb and he can't get a clear shot with Razor Leaf either!_ Dawn's shoulders drooped in dismay. _Why couldn't that onix just stand still and take turns attacking? I could be winning then..._

"This would be my onix's specialty. Slowly wearing down the opponent," Roark explained to Dawn, raising his hand to adjust his glasses slightly. "Set up sandstorm, then bind the opponent to make it difficult to attack. The sandstorm will die down shortly, but by then your turtwig won't have much strength left. At that point, we can finish it in one move."

_This is pretty bad but...I don't want to lose here! Dawn thought, clenching her fists._ This is the pokemon that beat Barry. _More than any other pokemon, I have to beat this one somehow! _Dawn wracked her brain for what little knowledge she had, hoping there was something in Bowser's arsenal that could get her out of this mess. The answer, however, came from Bowser himself.

Though the sandstorm was finally starting to die down, the combination was taking a heavy toll on Bowser's body. Suddenly, a green glow surrounded him and the leaf on his head grew slightly larger. Dawn was confused for a moment when she noticed this, but then remembered reading something in her pokedex.

_That glow...could that be Bowser's ability? Overgrow?_ Realizing what had happened, a smirk crossed Dawn's lips. With Overgrow active, Bowser finally had a fighting chance. "Bowser! Now's your chance! Absorb!"

"-This...ends...here!-" Bowser grunted. Focusing briefly, a green glow surrounded onix's body. This time the glow was surrounding the rock pokemon's entire body, causing it to roar in pain and loosen it's grip on Bowser. This was enough for Bowser to overwhelm it completely, absorbing a massive amount of energy from the onix's body. The rock pokemon suddenly collapsed as it lost consciousness and Bowser leaped out of it's grip. Along with the onix's collapse, the battlefield finally cleared as the sandstorm died down completely.

"Alright, Bowser! You did it!" Dawn cheered. Bowser nodded enthusiastically.

"Overgrow, was it?" Roark said with a smirk as he recalled his onix. "Slipped my mind...its not often someone shows up with a pokemon like turtwig, you see. I'm curious, where did you get that?"

"Bowser's a pokemon given to me by Professor Rowan to be my first pokemon," Dawn said to him.

_So she's another one of Rowan's assistants?_ Roark thought. _That's the second one today. He certainly chose some rather_ - Roark frowned slightly - _quirky assistants_.

After recalling his onix, Roark had placed the pokeball in one of the large pockets on his pants and took out another one. "Well, you've gotten this far, now let's what you can do against my best pokemon!" As he said this, Roark pressed the button on the pokeball and released a cranidos onto the field. As it had before, it immediately brandished it's thick head at it's opponent and scraped the ground with it's foot as if ready to charge.

_The fact that the giant rock snake wasn't his best pokemon is scary_, Dawn thought, twitching nervously. _I already know it has a lot of power from before, but Bowser's good with ranged attacks anyway._

"Bowser, let's keep this streak going! Razor Leaf!"

"Cranidos, charge and attack with Headbutt!"

Bowser spun his leaf around, firing several sharp leaves at Roark's cranidos. The cranidos charged headfirst in spite of the attack, not even slowing down when the sharp leaves slashed across the top of it's head. It kept going, plowing into Bowser and throwing him back with such incredible force that he landed on his back next to Dawn. Almost immediately, Bowser glowed and the leaf on his head grew again. It had shrunk after Bowser had absorbed energy from the onix previously as Overgrow wore off after Bowser regained his strength.

"-Ow...that guy hits hard...-" Bowser groaned, taking a second to recover before rolling to the side and getting back on his feet.

_Well that didn't go over well! Better try using Absorb again!_ Dawn thought, then called out her attack. "Bowser, Absorb!"

"Not so fast! Cranidos, finish this with another headbutt!"

Bowser focused and the cranidos' body began to glow green as he drew energy from it, the energy flowing quickly between them thanks to Bowser's Overgrow ability. Roark's cranidos took a step and stumbled at first, but then charged straight at Bowser and rammed him headfirst again. The impact through Bowser back through the air, flying past Dawn and smashing into the gym wall next to the door. Bowser was unconscious when he finally hit the floor.

_Just what does Roark FEED that thing!?_ Dawn wondered in disbelief. She turned around and took out Bowser's pokeball when she saw that he was unconscious, recalling him and letting out a heavy sigh as she turned to face Roark and his cranidos again. The powerful rock-type pokemon was panting, Bowser's Absorb attack had taken a heavy toll on it. _Roark's pokemon looks pretty weak now, but I'm down to Bridget and he doesn't listen to me..._

"As you may have noticed, with cranidos, there's not much strategy to be had. Instead, what he brings to the table is power and lots of it," Roark explained to Dawn. "By the time the trainer has gotten to this pokemon, my geodude and onix would have already worn their team down. Cranidos here delivers a powerful finisher to end the battle."

He can say that again, Dawn thought, taking her last pokeball from her belt. This battle is pretty much over now, but I'll give Bridget a shot anyway! Dawn held out the pokeball, pressing the button and releasing the pink rabbit pokemon onto the field. "Bridget! It's up to you now!"

Bridget blinked and looked around the field, a smirk crossing his face when he realized what he was dealing with. "-A sanctioned battle? And 'up to me'? Oh, you'll regret this in about five seconds, Dawn.-"

"Bridget, Frustration! Give it your all!"

"Cranidos, attack with your strongest Headbutt!"

The two pokemon moved toward each other, Bridget coiling his ears to attack and Roark's cranidos lowering it's head. However, when the two finally met, Bridget held back long enough for the cranidos to headbutt him in the face and knock him to the ground. Bridget didn't get back up, either. Though he could easily take more than that, he was choosing to pretend to be fainted instead.

_Don't tell me...Bridget's not even going to try to fight, is he?_ Dawn thought, slapping her hand against her forehead.

"Hmm. I expected a strong finish, but I guess you used all your best pokemon first." Roark said to Dawn, shrugging. "Still, I'm impressed. That turtwig of your's dealt a considerable amount of damage to my time alone. I think you need to spend more time working with your other two pokemon, though."

"Yeah, you're right," Dawn replied, forcing a smile. _A pokemon I just caught, and a pokemon that won't listen to me. Bowser didn't have any reliable pokemon to back him up, now that I think of it..._

"Hey, I'll be with you in a minute, just have to heal my pokemon," Roark said, recalling his cranidos and heading into the back room again. Dawn blinked and looked behind her, seeing a young boy she vaguely recalled seeing in the pokemon center. Realizing he was waiting to challenge the gym leader, she quickly recalled Bridget and made her way toward the exit, closing the door behind her. She let out a sigh once she was outside.

"Well, so much for getting the badge and rubbing it in Barry's face. But at least I beat that onix." Still holding Bridget's pokeball in her hand, she looked down at it and frowned. _If Bridget would only listen I bet we could have done enough damage with Frustration to finish that match. That attack didn't faint him, I KNOW it didn't!_

Dawn clipped the pokeball to her belt and started to walk away from the gym, heading toward the Oreburgh Pokemon Center for the third time that day. _Well, all that's left now is to head home anyway. I have what I came this far for, so I'm done. And Dusk shouldn't show up, she wanted me to go home anyway._

Dawn let out a sigh. _Trip home's going to be reeeeal boring..._

* * *

Author's Notes: And thus Dawn's quest comes to an end, having caught the fabled 'pokemon with hands'. As one might expect, that's not going to be the end though. And she will start collecting badges eventually too, but this is probably going to be the only time she battles in a gym. Why? Well, the answer to that will be a fair bit later in the story.

Jax was named for the Mortal Kombat character, which seemed to fit for a Machop. Name was suggested by chaosblazer. Next chapter, Dawn arrives home but finds an unpleasant surprise that will lead to more than a few frustrations for her as she gets forced into a few fetch quests as a result.


	5. Chapter 5: Random Encounter

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter Five**

**Random Encounter**

It had been two days since Dawn faced Roark in battle, more than enough time to get from Oreburgh to Twinleaf. Despite this, today Dawn was in the pokemon center in Jubilife City, early morning. She was waiting for her pokemon to be healed, checking out her pokedex again in the meantime. After losing to Roark she decided it would be best to get to know her pokemon's individual capabilities better.

_Thanks to Mom, I'm definitely going to have to be ready for a battle with Dusk_, Dawn thought as she read over her pokedex, letting out a sigh. _I really should have known better than to think I was finished..._

* * *

Evening, previous day...

"Ah! Its great to finally be home!" Dawn said as she came up to her front door. "Huh? What's this?" Dawn leaned toward the door, reading a piece of paper stuck to the inside. The writing was facing outside so she would be able to read it. Dawn read the note out loud to herself.

"Dear Dawn, I've taken a vacation to Hearthome. Door is locked, but I have the spare key with me. You will have to come to Hearthome if you want it. Love, Mom." Dawn glared angrily at the piece of paper. "Hearthome?! Why not just leave it in the mailbox or something?!"

Dawn growled under her breath and stepped back from the door, examining it for a moment and then shaking her head. "Nope, not even going to try. If video games have taught me anything its that there's no greater force in the universe than a locked door. Even if I did break it down I'd be minus a door." She let out a heavy sigh. "Guess I'm off to Hearthome then..."

* * *

_She did that on purpose too, I know she did!_ Dawn thought, eye twitching. _I'll have to take the long way around, too, unless that new pokemon I caught can get me up that steep hill near Oreburgh. Otherwise, I need to head toward Eterna City and hope I don't run into any waist-high fences._

Dawn clicked out of Jax's statistics page to go to her pokedex's main menu, then tapped the icon on the screen to go to the pokedex itself. Reassuringly, in addition to showing each pokemon Dawn had encountered in their pokedex order, it displayed the number of pokemon Dawn had seen and caught. In her journey, not counting a spearow and banette that weren't recorded, Dawn had seen sixteen pokemon and caught four. She had even managed to encounter a kricketot again near Twinleaf, making up for not having her pokedex the first time.

_That also gives me three pokemon to rely on now, too, since I know I can't rely on Bridget,_ she thought.

"Excuse me, Miss Dawn?" Dawn looked up from her pokedex when she heard her name being called. "Your pokemon are fully restored," the nurse at the front desk said to her. Dawn clipped her pokedex to her belt, making note that she'd need somewhere else to put it if she caught anymore pokemon, then approached the front desk. She retrieved four pokeballs, clipping two on each side of her belt, then left the pokemon center.

_Ok, time to see if my plan will work!_ Dawn thought, grinning to herself as she stepped outside and took a pokeball from her belt. _I just threw a pokeball at this one without thinking when I saw it outside Jubilife, catching it on my first try was a stroke of luck!_

Dawn immediately headed out to Route 203, not wanting to practice her hill-bypassing stunt within the city. Once she was a good distance outside Jubilife, she held up the pokeball and called out her pokemon. "Captain Falcon, come on!" The pokeball in her hand opened and a red beam fired out onto the ground, materializing into almost a carbon copy of the bird pokemon Barry fought her with. Only her starly had less white on the forehead.

"-Where am I?-" the starly wondered, looking around frantically. "-Last thing I remember is flying through the air and something hitting me from behind...-"

_A female starly, but Captain Falcon as a name is fairly gender-neutral anyway_, Dawn thought, smiling to herself. Eventually, the starly turned around and immediately realized what had happened when she saw Dawn. It was easy to tell Dawn was a trainer, due to the pokeballs on her belt, and thus the starly came to the conclusion that she had been caught.

"-But...I didn't even get a chance to fight back...-" the starly whimpered.

"My name's Dawn, I'm your new trainer and I've decided to name you Captain Falcon," Dawn said to the little bird pokemon. "I'll get straight to the point, I want you to carry me."

Captain Falcon squawked and flapped his wings frantically, sending feathers flying. "-Hold on! Don't I get a say in this?! That's just nuts, and what if I don't want to have a trainer? What if I just want to fly freely through the sky without a care in the world, to feel the wind through my feathers?-"

"Ok, so maybe that seems a bit odd, but bird pokemon fly people around all the time!" With one hand, Dawn pointed to her hat. "Just grab me and try to fly."

"-Whatever you say.-" Captain Falcon shrugged her wings and then took off, flying up and then landing on Dawn's head. She dug her talons into Dawn's hat and then flapped her wings, taking off into the air again but only taking the hat with her.

"...I _really_ should have seen that coming," Dawn said to herself, sighing. Her hat soon dropped to the ground in front of her, at which point she looked up and saw Captain Falcon still flying away. "HEY! CAPTAIN! GET BACK HERE!" Dawn called out after her, waving her hand.

The starly kept flying, so Dawn decided to take out it's pokeball again and threw it up at her. Captain Falcon didn't see it coming and Dawn's aim proved surprisingly accurate. The ball opened and pulled the starly inside just as it would when catching a pokemon, then fell to the ground. Dawn picked up her hat, placing it back on her head, then approached and picked up Captain Falcon's pokeball.

"She doesn't seem too bright...didn't even realize she took off without me," Dawn said quietly to herself. Holding up the pokeball, she released Captain Falcon again. The small bird had a defeated look to her.

"-Just how far do I have to fly to escape this kid?!-" Captain Falcon growled.

"Ok, so I've realized having you actually grab me might be a bad idea because those talons might hurt. So we'll try doing this with you grabbing the back of my top, ok?" Captain Falcon sighed and nodded to Dawn. Dawn reached back, grabbing her top and pulling it away from her body. Captain Falcon then flew behind her and dug her talons into the black fabric of Dawn's dress.

_Can't do this too often, or else my clothes will be full of holes_, Dawn thought.

Captain Falcon maintained a strong grip on Dawn's top as she started to flap her wings, struggling at first. Dawn felt the fabric of the outfit pulling tightly against the front of her body as the starly pulled on it, making it a bit hard for her to breathe. Soon, though, she felt her body starting to lift off the ground, even if just barely over an inch as Captain Falcon struggled to carry her.

_Just a little more! If Captain Falcon can manage_ - Dawn's thoughts were interrupted suddenly by a ripping noise. Captain Falcon's talons were tearing through the fabric of her clothing, the force of her trying to lift Dawn and gravity pulling her down proving too much for the garment. Dawn was flipped over as the starly kept trying to pull her up, talons tearing a horizontal gash from front to back and the motion causing her to drop her travel bag.

The motion continued until Captain Falcon's talons made a full circle around her, taking mere seconds overall but everything seemed to slow down in Dawn's mind when she realized what had happened. She was in shock when her top was ripped clean in half, falling to the ground while Captain Falcon was once again flying off as soon as his talons were freed. Realizing the bird would fly away again, Dawn recovered long enough to grab the pokeball again and recall her. Dawn then stood up to survey the damage.

"Great, just great. This is my only outfit too, since I can't get in my own house!" Dawn growled. She clenched the bottom half of the torn outfit to keep it from falling off her. Kneeling down next to where it fell, she opened her travel bag with her other hand and dug through it until she found a red jacket folded up at the bottom and pulled it out.

_This will have to do until I get to Hearthome, I guess, even though it's not that cold around here_, she thought. Fortunately, the Sinnoh region was far from warm, so it wasn't like Dawn would be too hot wearing her jacket. Unfolding the jacket, it was fairly long and widened at the hips to take on the same shape as her regular outfit. Covered as much as well, aside from actually having sleeves.

Still kneeling, Dawn pulled the jacket on over her torn outfit, making sure it would cover her incase the bottom half of her dress fell off. Once she had it on she stood up and, to her surprise, the dress she had under it didn't fall. Thinking it would stay, she picked up her travel bag and started walking back to Jubilife. It finally fell after she walked a few feet, wrapping around her ankles and tripping her. She fell face first onto the grassy terrain.

_Today is really starting to suck!_ Dawn thought, groaning as she sat back up. Frowning, she pulled the remains of her clothing off her feet and frowned. I really liked that outfit, too. I guess this is what I get for trying to break sequence. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Dawn picked herself up and headed back into the city. Now she really would have to go all the way to Eterna City to get to Hearthome.

Dawn passed straight through Jubilife, not even bothering to stop by the pokemon center for once. There wasn't any need for it, afterall. She didn't even entertain the thought of looking around the city either. Jubilife was home to a place known as the Global Trade Service, which did exactly what one would expect by allowing trades with anyone in the world, the poketch building, and the tv station. Dawn's mind was set only on getting to Hearthome so she could get her key and go home.

Approaching the city's northern exit, Dawn could make out four figures standing several feet past where the city road ended and Route 204 began. She stopped for a moment and squinted at the two closest individuals. _Is that...the professor and Lucas?_ Dawn wondered, blinking in disbelief. _What are they doing out here?_

Looking past Professor Rowan, Dawn could make out what seemed to be two men with light-blue hair and wearing what seemed to be outfits derived from space suits. _Comedy relief villains detected!_ Dawn thought, snickering to herself. As she approached the group, she could hear them arguing over something, but Rowan looked back when he heard footsteps behind him and seemed to lose all interest in the conversation when he saw Dawn.

"Ah, Dawn, how is your pokedex progressing?" the professor asked her. The two spacemen recoiled in shock when they realized he was ignoring them and Lucas only glanced back. He was standing between Rowan and the two grunts and seemed intent on keeping an eye on them, pokeball clutched tightly in his hand.

"Oh, umm, pretty well I guess," Dawn replied, blinking. Looking at the two spacemen, she couldn't help but think her suspicion of them being comedy relief villains to be dead on.

"Professor! Must you be so difficult?" one of the spacemen said, angrily shaking his fist.

"Yeah! We're speaking to you strictly on business terms here!" the other added. "In other words you better comply with our demands or your assistant here gets it!"

"Hmph..." Rowan turned around to face the two, glaring daggers at them. "Quiet, you lot! Why must you be such a nuisance?"

"What?!" the two said in unison.

"Let me list some lessons you still need to learn. Number one, don't loiter about for no good reason. Number two, don't interrupt others while they are attempting to converse. Number three, if you don't get your way, don't raise your voice to be intimidating."

_Wow, he's really telling them_, Dawn thought, blinking. Even Lucas could be seen smirking a bit as the professor listed off the lessons.

"Number four, don't think you've grown strong just because you're in a group. Finally...what is with those outlandish outfits you have on? You call yourselves adults?" Rowan shook his head sadly and glanced back at Dawn. "Dawn, Lucas, don't grow up to behave like these sorry specimens."

A wide grin spread across Dawn's face. _Professor, this totally makes up for you not being a lawyer!_ she thought.

"Grr! You had to make this personal!" one of the men growled as they both reached for a pokeball, the only one they had.

"Yeah! We'll make you regret insulting us!" the other said.

Professor Rowan stepped aside, then looked to Dawn and said, "You kids, give these thugs a lesson in civility please."

"You got it!" Dawn said enthusiastically, moving to stand next to Lucas while she took a pokeball from her belt. "After battling someone like Roark, this will be a piece of cake!"

"You challenged..." Lucas began, then shook his head and turned to face the two spacemen. "Nevermind, we can talk about that later."

The four trainers proceeded to call out their pokemon, all four of them appearing almost simultaneously. Lucas still only had Pips the piplup, which still had a fairly vacant look in it's eyes. Dawn called out Captain Falcon, wanting to give her recently caught pokemon a chance to battle. The pokemon released by the two spacemen consisted of two feline pokemon, one purple with a white stripe on it's back and the other a blue furred pokemon with a long tail and crescent-shaped head.

_A glameow and stunky, glameow might be a threat if it knows Hypnosis but the stunky would probably be an annoyance at best_, Lucas thought, then glanced over at Dawn's starly. _Dawn's been catching pokemon at least, and that starly can probably hit harder than either of their pokemon. Plus she has the turtwig and buneary, too. This fight shouldn't be too tough._

_ Great! Another chance to escape!_ Captain Falcon thought gleefully. _Beat up these two pokemon and then I can escape while the girl is celebrating her victory!_

"Ok! Even we can beat a pair of kids!" one of the two spacemen said. "Glameow, attack the blue one with Scratch!"

"Stunky, attack the other bird with Fury Swipes!"

"Pips, Ice Beam and then Pound," Lucas said calmly, any threat he thought the glameow might pose now greatly diminished.

"Ok, Captain, even you can take this one!" Dawn said to her pokemon. "Wing Attack!"

The battle between the four trainers finally started, but was rather noticeably one-sided right from the beginning. Lucas's piplup was able to attack before the glameow even got close, firing a blue beam from it's beak at the oncoming feline. The beam struck and briefly froze it over. Piplup then quickly moved toward it, reaching the glameow just before the ice completely shattered and striking it in the face hard with his wing. The glameow screeched in pain and fell onto it's side with a dazed look in it's eyes, down already.

Dawn's battle, on the other hand, was a bit less one-sided at first. Captain Falcon quickly moved in to attack but was caught off guard when the stunky reached out to strike first. Captain Falcon flapped her wings and hopped back, avoiding the first swipe. The stunky kept swinging and Captain Falcon kept moving back until she eventually got tired of dodging and moved in, taking a claw to her right side while striking the stunky from the left with her wing. The stunky was knocked onto it's side but immediately rolled back onto it's feet.

"Damn it! You should have said your pokemon had a strong attack like Ice Beam, you brat!" the spaceman owning the glameow said bitterly as he recalled his pokemon.

Lucas shrugged at the man's comment. "Pips, finish this last one with Ice Beam too." The piplup nodded and turned to face the stunky that still remained. Pips opened his beak and fired a blue beam at stunky, freezing it solid as soon as the beam struck it. The ice shattered almost immediately and the stunky's legs gave out from under it as the last of it's strength was drained. It's owner immediately recalled it.

"A weak pokemon like that having Ice Beam is cheating!" the stunky's owner growled at Lucas.

"-Hold on! That was supposed to be my pokemon to defeat!-" Captain Falcon squawked at Pips. Pips glanced over at her, blinking, then shrugged. Captain Falcon was hoping Dawn would be distracted by her own victory, but now there wouldn't be such a distraction.

"That...that's hardly fair, Captain Falcon only got in one attack," Dawn mumbled. "Well, you did well while it lasted anyway. Captain Falcon, return!" Dawn held out the starly's pokeball, recalling her before she could even try to escape.

"This isn't over! Because Team Galactic is benevolent we'll fall back for now, but we'll be back for that research!" The more vocal of the two Galactic grunts said. The two men then quickly ran off before anyone could try to stop them, heading north toward Floaroma.

_What's even more disappointing about this is that it's now technically the first time I've beaten another trainer, and I didn't do anything_, Dawn thought in dismay.

"Well, you seem to have improved at least," Lucas said to Dawn. Dawn shot him a surprised look. "You're able to handle yourself on a basic level in battle at least," he added, glancing over at her. "But I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you lost to Roark."

"I almost had him!" Dawn said, pouting. "I had him down to his last pokemon, weakened too! But then I had to send out Bridget to battle it and he decided to just forfeit..."

She can get that far against a gym leader already? Lucas thought in disbelief. Well, she's still not on my level, but that's quite the improvement...

"It's hardly a surprise. The turtwig I gave you was quite the hardy pokemon," Professor Rowan said, interrupting them. "Well fought you two. I am a bit concerned about this Team Galactic, however. It seems they are studying the power of evolution."

"The power of evolution?" Dawn repeated questioningly. The professor nodded.

"When pokemon evolve, they seem to give off some form of mystical energy." Professor Rowan explained. "I believe it is a power beyond our control, but Team Galactic seems to be studying that power's potential."

_That's right, he's the evolution expert isn't he?_ Dawn thought.

"In any case, thanks to you two, that little diversion is over with," Rowan said, then turned to Lucas. "Lucas, let's return to the lab for now."

Lucas nodded. "Just one question I want to ask Dawn while we're here, first," he said, then turned to Dawn. "Dawn, when you were younger, did you know any girls that liked ghost pokemon or seemed like a really...dark person?"

"Huh?" Dawn blinked at him. "Umm, no, I can't say I did...but 'dark person' is really kinda vague, isn't it?"

"Maybe," Lucas said with a shrug. "Thought maybe I found a clue about this Dusk girl, guess not."

"About that...Dawn, you have a Vs. Recorder, correct?" Rowan asked. Dawn nodded, taking the device in question out of her travel bag to show to him. "Next time you encounter Dusk, then, I would ask that you try to get the encounter recorded. We may be able to discern some information about her from the video."

"That makes sense..."

"Well, keep in touch then," Rowan said. He nodded to Lucas and the two set off for Sandgem. Waving them off with her back to the route, Dawn didn't see a distant bush suddenly get up and chase after the two Galactic grunts that had run off. She didn't even notice anything amiss when she turned around again and set off toward Floaroma.

Heading up Route 204, Dawn soon found herself treading through a very large field of tall grass. It stretched out as far as the eye could see. It was there, in that tall grass, that the expected encounter occurred.

"I thought you had finally come to your senses, but it seems I was wrong," a familiar voice called out, seemingly coming from nowhere. A black vortex suddenly opened in the air several feet ahead of Dawn and a cloaked girl dropped out of it. The girl slowly stood up and glared at Dawn from under the hood of her cloak.

"Hearthome you're going to, is it?" Dusk asked, then shook her head. "No, I'm afraid I definitely cannot allow you to go that far."

"I had a feeling I'd run into you..." Dawn mumbled weakly, shoulders drooping. "How do you know what I'm doing anyway?!"

"That's none of your concern," Dusk replied tersely. "More importantly, you seem to be treating this journey of your's as if it were one of your video games." Dusk shook her head. "I cannot allow that to continue. I will convince you to give up once and for all. I will drag you into a pit of despair!"

With that declaration, Dusk thrust out her right arm, holding out the same amber-colored crystal that she had during Dawn's first encounter with her. Another hole briefly opened in the air, this time with a black, bulky-looking ghost pokemon with a mouth on it's stomach appearing from it. "This dusknoir, Reaper, shall be your opponent."

_Speaking of despair, this is already looking like one heck of a mismatch!_ Dawn thought, clenching her teeth. With one hand, she took a pokeball from her belt. The other opened her travel bag to take out her Vs. Recorder. "Bowser, go! I'm counting on you!" Dawn called out, releasing the small grass turtle pokemon only a foot away from Reaper. Bowser looked up at the pokemon floating in front of him, looking much more relaxed about his opposition than Dawn was.

_After fighting a giant rock snake, this thing should be easy!_ Bowser thought, clenching his beak in a sort of grin.

"Fool. I was waiting for that!" Dusk declared with a wide grin. Holding out the amber crystal toward Bowser this time, he winced in pain and a dark aura surrounded his body.

Dawn backed away in fear as Bowser began to grow while surrounded in a dark energy. First he grew to around three and a half feet and sprouted a pair of bushes, but he didn't stay in that form and doubled his size from there. When the aura faded, a turtle-like pokemon with spikes on one side of it's back and a tree on the other stood before Dawn. From the ground to the top of it's tree, the pokemon was over seven feet tall.

"What...what did you do to him?!" Dawn shrieked.

"I forced his evolution, just as I did with the shinx." Dusk explained. "Even your own pokemon are not safe. The now fully evolved...'Bowser'...will go berserk, I wonder how you will stand against his newfound strength?" Dusk then waved her arm, opening a vortex below her and her pokemon. The two disappeared into the void, leaving Dawn to handle the fully evolved Bowser on her own.

_What...what do I do now?_ Dawn wondered, looking fearfully at the large pokemon that had it's back to her. _Can any of my pokemon really fight him like this? M-maybe I'll get lucky and he won't notice me!_ Almost as quickly as she had thought it, her hopes were dashed. Bowser turned his body to glance back at her, a wild look in his eyes. He hadn't forgotten she was there.

Realizing she was currently defenseless, Dawn quickly grabbed a pokeball from her belt. She had chosen to send out Captain Falcon again, but before she could a bolt of lightning suddenly shot down from the sky and struck the tree on Bowser's back. Bowser didn't even flinch as electricity coursed through his body, but wasn't about to ignore it either. Looking back to see what had attacked him, a six-foot tall bird pokemon with yellow, jagged feathers all of it's body dropped down into the tall grass.

"-A ground-type too, huh?-" The bird pokemon sneered. "-Well, it makes no difference. I don't know what happened here but I'm your opponent now, grass-thing.-" Bowser snorted, saying nothing as he turned to face the newcomer.

_I've never seen a pokemon like that before_, Dawn thought, stunned by the sight of the bird pokemon. _It looks strong, too! Maybe if Bowser can beat it in this state then I can catch it and the use the rest of my pokemon to beat Bowser!_ Dawn grinned to herself. What had looked like a dire situation had seemingly turned around for the better.

Bowser made the first move, charging toward the electric bird pokemon. The other pokemon seemed unimpressed. Air began to swirl around the bird's beak like a small twister, a technique Dawn recognized as Drill Peck, then flapped it's wings to lift itself a few feet off the ground.

Bowser rose up on his hind legs as he approached, looking like it would slam down on top of the pokemon, at which point the bird made it's move. It flew into Bowser, stabbing it's drilling beak into the underside of Bowser's body. Bowser groaned in pain and the electric bird kept pushing until it had flipped Bowser over onto his back. A dark, mist-like aura could be seen rising from Bowser's body and it suddenly reverted all the way down to a turtwig again. Rolling back onto his feet, Bowser looked around in confusion.

An unnatural evolution? The electric bird thought, peering at Bowser. I thought I felt the presence of a legendary pokemon here, perhaps it was the energy of one that triggered this?

"-Huh? What just happened?-" The small grass pokemon said in confusion. Dawn quickly recalled him, keeping the pokeball in hand and putting her Vs. Recorder away. She started to move past the electric bird, grinning sheepishly and keeping her gaze focused on the bird.

"D-don't mind me! Just passing through!" Dawn said fearfully. Seeing the pokemon defeat a fully evolved Bowser so easily, she knew none of her current pokemon could handle it. The bird pokemon made no move to attack her and, once she was a few feet away, she broke into a run until she bumped into another girl and was stopped briefly.

"Sorry!" Dawn said quickly, moving beside the older girl and running off again.

"What was that about?" the older brunette wondered, scratching the back of her head. She stared at the retreating girl for a moment, then looked at the electric pokemon. "Zapdos? Did you have anything to do with this?" she asked it. The bird pokemon just shrugged it's wings. It didn't see much point in trying to explain itself.

* * *

Meanwhile, elsewhere...

"I didn't count on a legendary pokemon interfering." Dusk grumbled, the scene playing out before her as if she were watching it through a window. "With that girl still in the area I won't be able to make another attempt either, she's much too strong for me to get involved with..."

_Then what will you do?_ a voice asked in her mind.

"Dawn will have to go through the Eterna Forest to get to Eterna City." Dusk smirked to herself. "It will be easy enough to set a trap there. The blockade in Floaroma will buy me plenty of time for that.

_Be careful, Dusk_, the voice warned. _It seems fate is not on our side._

* * *

Author's Notes: Was going to make Captain Falcon male originally, but as it was Dawn would have likely ended up with like...one female pokemon in the end. Captain Falcon as a name seems gender-neutral enough anyway, though the character it comes from might disagree...

I completely forgot Looker shows up in Jubilife until the end there. That bush chasing after Team Galactic? Looker in disguise, just to have him in there somewhere. And the girl that showed up at the end was Ashley, aka the Fr/Lg girl. Two more of her pokemon will make similar appearances as Zapdos did in this chapter.


	6. Chapter 6: Quest Chain

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter Six**

**Quest Chain**

Rain poured down from the darkened sky as Dawn ran through the quiet town of Floaroma, it's citizens all locked up in their homes to get out of the sudden downpour. The town's pokemon center loomed ahead. She ran toward it as fast as she could, desparate to make it to the building. Hurriedly pulling the doors open, she stopped only once she was inside the dimly lit building.

"I NEED AN OUTLET!" Dawn cried out, her frantic tone giving the impression of there being an emergency. Water dripped from her body, her sleek jacket proving to be quite water-resistant. Only her hat The nurse working the front desk, the only individual that could be seen, shot her a curious glance.

"Is there a problem, miss?"

"YES!" Dawn replied frantically. Reaching into her travel bag, she pulled out her Nintendo DS. "My DS's battery is low! It needs to be recharged!"

The nurse blinked several times, the way the girl was acting in regards to her DS being similar to to a trainer whose pokemon had somehow gotten injured. In spite of this, the nurse smiled and calmly replied, "I'm sorry, but due to the current power outage and the limitations of our pokemon back-up, all non-essential equipment and power outlets are currently offline."

"Power outage?" Dawn blinked and looked up at the lights. "That explains the lights I guess, but I just figured it was for mood-setting..." She shrugged and looked back at the nurse again. "So...what's with the power outage?"

"Oh, it seems some spacemen have taken over the Valley Windworks for something," the nurse explained. "No one knows what they're doing but they've shut down the power. Because our town is so small the local police are unable to deal with it, and we have no gym leader here either..."

_Of course. A sidequest presents itself_, Dawn thought, nodding to herself. _In order to charge my DS's battery, I will first need to deal with what sounds like Team Galactic again. Kick them out of the power plant and restore power to Floaroma. Shouldn't be too hard._

"Ok, I'm off to get the power back online then," Dawn announced. Putting her DS back in her travel bag, she turned and exited the pokemon center. Seconds later she came back in and said, "Actually...can I get my pokemon healed first?"

* * *

After getting her pokemon healed, Dawn headed straight toward the Valley Windworks. To her surprise, it was actually a fair distance outside of town, situated in a valley at the end of Route 205. When Dawn reached the end of that route, it opened up into a wide field of tall grass swaying in the wind. Wind turbines could be heard spinning, several situated inside the valley. By the time she had gotten there, the rain has stopped but the sky was still completely clouded over.

In the corner of the field, nestled up against the slope that formed the wall of the valley, was the Valley Windworks itself. Trees lined the side of the building and a few rodent pokemon with long, bushy tails could be seen flitting about, but Dawn wasn't interested in them. She was more interested in the lone Team Galactic grunt positioned in front of the main entrance.

_As expected, only a single guard outside, easily dispatched by a lone trainer and her pokemon!_ Dawn thought, grinning to herself. She moved toward the guard, not caring whether or not he spotted her. And spot her he did.

"Hey! You! Don't get any ideas about trying to force your way in here!" the guard yelled at her. Dawn stopped in her tracks and stared at him, narrowing her eyes. "You...you're going to try to break in aren't you?"

"Well yeah, I'm on a quest to restore power to Floaroma. I kinda have to," Dawn replied.

"Quest? I don't know what you're up to kid, but..." The grunt reached down to his belt and plucked a pokeball from it. "You'll have to get by me first! Glameow, go!" The pokeball he drew opened up and released a glameow, which cast a smug look at Dawn. "Glameow, put her to sleep now! Hypnosis!"

Glameow moved toward Dawn, getting into range to make its move, while Dawn proceeded to draw a pokeball as well. "Jax! Go!" she called out, pressing the button on the pokeball. By then, the glameow had stopped directly in front of her and was spinning its long, spiralling tail. Dawn was mesmerized by it and soon collapsed, falling into a deep sleep. The pokeball still opened to release Jax, who was surprised when he looked around and found himself standing beside a glameow while his trainer was asleep.

"-Excuse me.-" The glameow turned its head toward Jax and received a sharp Karate Chop to the neck from him. Just as Dawn had, the glameow dropped like a rock.

"Tch! Too slow!" the grunt grumbled, backing away toward the door. "Well I'll just lock the door then! Without the key, she couldn't possibly get in and the only other key is with my buddies at the Floaroma Meadow! This is still my victory!" The grunt then recalled his glameow and bolted into the Valley Windworks, closing and locking the door behind him.

"-I bet I could turn that door into a paper airplane,-" Jax said. There was a brief pause, followed by, "-Wait a second...that doesn't make sense...-" Shaking his head, Jax moved toward the door but then remembered his trainer. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw Dawn still fast asleep in the wet grass and a trio of the bushy-tailed pokemon curiously gathered around her.

"-Hey! Get away from her!-" Jax yelled, shaking a fist. Two of the pokemon immediately scattered. The third pokemon turned to look at Jax, head tilted to the side.

"-But doesn't she need help?-" the pokemon asked.

Jax blinked in disbelief. "-You want to help her?-" The pokemon nodded. "-You don't even know her!-" Jax growled. "-She captures pokemon without even asking if they want to go with her, not even considering they might be happy with their lives. And let me tell you, I was quite content just lazing around in the sun when I wasn't weight training with geodudes!-"

"-But...how could she ask?-" the bushy-tailed pokemon asked Jax. "-It can't be helped if a trainer sometimes catches a pokemon that doesn't want to be caught. We don't speak the same language, afterall. But if you tried making it obvious to her that you didn't want to be caught, maybe she'd let you go?-"

Jax was silent for a moment but eventually shrugged in response. "-Eh. I wasn't doing anything important. Can't be bothered,-" he said, then gave the pokemon a curious look. "-You talk as if you know about this, though, so why help a trainer when she's likely to turn around and catch you?-"

"-Oh, I DO want to be caught, though!-" the bushy-tailed pokemon replied, grinning. "-Most of the pachirisu around here don't, they like it here. The air is nice and clean, it smells like flowers, and there's a power plant right here to sneak into and get electricity from.-" The pachirisu gestured toward the Valley Windworks building with his tiny paw, then continued. "-I like it here too. It's nice, but it's kinda boring. That's why I want a trainer.-"

"-Well if that's what you want to do.-" Hearing the sound of a girl groaning, both pokemon turned their heads toward Dawn. She was starting to wake up, eyes slowly opening. With her eyes half open she sat up and looked around.

"That was a cheap shot," Dawn muttered groggily, her gaze stopping on Jax. "Did you beat him?" she asked. Jax nodded to her. "Then where..." Before Dawn could even finish her question, Jax pointed toward the Valley Windworks. He then made a motion with his hands and backed up as if pulling a hinged door closed, followed by holding his right hand as if grasping something and turning.

Dawn frowned, thinking over what Jax was trying to say as she stood up. Finally figuring it out, she gasped. "Wait...are you saying he locked me out?!" she asked frantically. Jax nodded. Dawn groaned and fell to her knees. "But...but that's REALLY cheating...he's supposed to just lose and then let me in..."

Jax shrugged. "-I can lift gravelers. One in each hand. I bet I could knock that door down with one punch.-" He then grinned and flexed his arms. "-These muscles aren't just for show you know!-"

While Jax was showing off, the wild pachirisu approached Dawn and tugged on the side of her jacket. When Dawn looked at him, the pachirisu pointed toward Floaroma. "Huh? Are you trying to tell me something?" she asked him. He nodded and pulled on her jacket again. "Do you want me to follow you?" He nodded to her again.

"-What are you doing?-" Jax asked the pachirisu, lowering his arms to his sides.

"-That guy said the other key is at the Floaroma Meadow. That's the place with all the flowers!-" The pachirisu turned to Jax and grinned at him. "-The other humans might not like you breaking the door.-"

"Ok, lead the way then!" Dawn said, not knowing herself where the wild pachirisu would take her. In her mind, however, she saw it as another quest to complete before she could finish her current one. After recalling Jax, she set off with the pachirisu back toward Floaroma.

* * *

A short while later, near a small house in the incredibly large flower field that was Floaroma Meadow...

"Enough arguing! Hand over that sweet honey!"

"Do as we say! Team Galactic must have that honey to attract pokemon in great numbers!"

Two Team Galactic grunts, looking almost like carbon copies of every other male grunt within the organization, were attempting to intimidate an old man it handing over his sweet honey. The old man ran a small combee farm from the nearby house, which was situated on a small hill overlooking the meadow. He wasn't giving in, however.

"If you want sweet honey then you have to pay like everyone else!" the old man replied defiantly. "And don't raise your voice when you don't get your way! You are both pitiful excuses for adults!"

"Wow, that one sounds familiar," a fourth voice said. The two grunts turned around to find Dawn and the wild pachirisu standing behind them. One of the grunts let out a shocked gasp.

"You! You're the kid that teamed up with the other kid that beat up my stunky in Jubilife!" the grunt yelled, angrily jabbing a finger in Dawn's direction.

Dawn blinked. _I'll have to take his word for it_, she thought. _They all look like they're stamped out in some kinda cloning facility. Clearly, they're the minions of this Team Galactic and I have yet to meet a higher ranking individual._

"Well you're alone this time, so it's time to teach you a lesson!" the grunt continued. Both of them then took a pokeball in their hands and the wild pachirisu put himself between them and Dawn.

"You want to fight too?" Dawn asked the wild pokemon while reaching for a pokeball herself. The pachirisu nodded affirmatively. "Ok then! You can fight alongside Jax!" As Dawn said this, she held out the pokeball she grabbed and released Jax from it again. At the same time, the two grunts released their own pokemon, one sending out a zubat and the other sending out his stunky.

_It should be illegal for people to actually train those things_, Dawn thought, eying the zubat hovering nearby with disdain.

"Let's tag team the fighter! Zubat, supersonic!"

"Stunky, poison gas!"

Both of the Galactic's pokemon turned on Jax, but only one of them even had the chance to attack. The wild pachirisu, proving itself faster than a zubat, tackled the flying pokemon out of the air while his body was crackling with electricity. The zubat screeched in agony until it was suddenly silenced by the impact with the ground, taken out in one shot.

_Ok, note to self, definitely catching this pokemon!_ Dawn thought, awestruck by how easily the wild pachirisu dealt with the pokemon she considered to be her personal nemesis, encountered not only in the Oreburgh Gate but also the Jagged Pass she came through to get to Floaroma. Shaking her head, Dawn returned her focus to the battle at hand. "Jax, Karate Chop!"

"-About time,-" Jax muttered. Before he could attack he found himself surrounded in a purple cloud of gas, sprayed at him from the tip of the stunky's body. Jax coughed loudly as he breathed in the gas, poison running through his body. The poison gave him focus, though, and Jax lunged at the opposing stunky to chop lengthwise across it's back. A sharp crack was all that was heard before the stunky was down and out.

"Alright!" Dawn cheered enthusiastically as the two grunts bitterly recalled their pokemon. "If it's just the minions, we can take them down easy!"

"Tch! This isn't over, brat!" the grunt that owned the zubat growled. The two of them clipped the pokeballs back to their belts, the other grunt not noticing as the motion knocked a key off his belt. The two of them moved past Dawn with both Jax and the pachirisu watching them cautiously, then took off running away from the meadow.

"Ha, you make that look easy, child," the old honey collector said as he approached Dawn. He stopped when a glint from the grass caught his eye and reached down to pick up the key. "Hmm? One of them must have dropped this..."

That must be the Valley Windworks key! Dawn thought, grinning to herself. "Mind if I take it?" she then asked. "I kinda need it."

The old man looked at the key and shrugged, then handed it over to Dawn. "Certainly. I have no need for it. There is something else I would like to give you too, if you wouldn't mind accompanying me inside." He motioned for her to follow him, then headed toward his house.

_Follow an old-man-slash-complete-stranger into his house?_ Dawn smiled nervously. _If it wasn't for video game logic, this would probably be a bad idea. He does owe me a rare item or something for helping him, though._

"-Feeling kinda dizzy here...-" Jax mumbled weakly, the stunky's poison still draining him.

"Ok, first, you can go back into your pokeball now, Jax." Dawn held out Jax's pokeball and pressed the button to recall him. She then opened her travel bag and took out a second pokeball. With a wide grin on her face and empty pokeball in hand, she turned to address the wild pachirisu.

"And as for you..." The pachirisu tilted his head to the side, looking at her curiously. "How do you feel about the name 'Conker'?"

* * *

To her dismay, the 'rare item' she was expecting to receive from the old man turned out to be a fairly large jar of sweet honey. She took it anyway, stuffing it into her travel bag. Surely she'd find some use for it, at least. After receiving her reward, Dawn returned to the Valley Windworks and stumbled upon a peculiar sight.

Stopping in the middle of the tall grass that grew near the windworks, she could see the building up ahead. She could also make out what seemed to be a miniature tinman in front of the door. What...the? Dawn blinked in disbelief and moved closer to get a better look.

Rather than a tinman, the figure turned out to be a young girl. Much younger than Dawn was herself. The girl wore a pot on her head, the top from which was strapped to her left arm. Metal cooking trays were hanging from her neck in the front and back, and Dawn could even make out a rather large knife hanging at the girl's side. It was as if the girl tried to make herself into an adventurer using whatever she could find in the kitchen.

"Grr! Open up!" the girl said, grunting. In addition to the cooking utensils, the girl also had a small crowbar and was using it to try to pry open the door without much luck.

Dawn let out a sigh and shook her head. _NPC's. When will they learn to just leave things like this to the hero?_ Dawn continued through the grass, approaching the girl while taking the windworks key out of her jacket pocket. "Excuse me?" she said. The girl stepped back from the door, crowbar still in hand, and looked at Dawn curiously. "Maybe this would work better?" Dawn said, holding out the key for the girl to see.

"You have the key?! Then please help my Daddy!" the girl begged.

_Right, like I don't already have motivation enough for this!_ Dawn thought, struggling to keep a straight face. "If he's in there, I was going in anyway." she said instead, pointing at the door.

"O-Okay! I'll go in too!" the girl replied, clenching her fists determinedly. "They have my Daddy in there and they won't let him go!"

On the bright side, for rescuing her Dad she'll probably give me some personal treasure she found lying around somewhere and it'll turn out to be a rare and powerful item, Dawn thought to herself. Moving to the door, she slid the key into it and turned. The door unlocked with a loud *ker-chunk!* and Dawn opened the door to find the grunt from before leaning against the wall directly across from the door.

"Wh-what?!" the grunt shrieked, jumping to a standing position. "How did you...no! I have to report this to the commander!" the grunt bolted, heading left down the corridor then rounding a corner and kept going. At the mention of a commander, Dawn's eyes lit up.

Finally! Boss battle! Time to fight for my life while listening to awesome battle music! Dawn could barely contain herself, already playing through boss themes in her mind. Even restraining herself, there was still a noticeable grin on her face.

"Umm...can you really take on the commander miss trainer?" the young girl asked her.

"No sweat! I've got five to get me through this now!" Dawn said reassuringly. "And please, call me Dawn." The girl nodded and swallowed nervously.

Dawn and the young girl headed down the corridor in the direction the grunt had gone previously. The beige-walled corridor was nearly empty, save for a potted plant in the corner. Once they rounded the corner they came face to face with another pair of grunts, both male and readying their pokeballs. Dawn quickly reached for two pokeballs as well, a bit disappointed that she still had more of the minions to go through before facing the boss.

"Hold it right there," a voice called out. A red-haired woman and a somewhat short old man approached the group. The two grunts lowered their hands and stepped aside, allowing the red-haired woman to take their place. "So you're the one that's been causing trouble?" the woman asked. The young girl that was with Dawn hid behind her.

"That's right! That's her!" another grunt called out from further down.

"Certainly not what I was expecting," the woman said, giving Dawn a brief appraisal. "Regardless...I am Mars, one of Team Galactic's three..." The old man behind her loudly cleared his throat. "I mean, four commanders," Mars corrected herself. "In any case, I doubt you have any idea what Team Galactic is trying to accomplish, so I'll make this simple." Mars smirked. "We'll settle this with a battle."

"A battle?" Dawn blinked. "Well, I was expecting a battle anyway, but you're being pretty direct about it..."

"Hmph." Mars folded her arms. "It's not like you would leave any other way. So if I win, you leave the windworks. If you win, then Team Galactic will pull out. The battle is over when neither of us have any pokemon left."

"Works for me!" Dawn said, nodding.

"Very well then!" Mars grinned and took a pokeball from her belt. "Zubat!" The pokeball opened as the galactic commander held it out in her hand, releasing the eyeless bat-pokemon, zubat. It was already flapping its wings very rapidly when it appeared in the air and let out a loud screech.

Ok, color me disappointed now, Dawn thought, grimacing at the sight of another zubat. Fortunately, she now had a pokemon to deal with them, and took the pokeball containing that pokemon from her belt. "Conker! I choose you!" she called out, releasing the blue and white electric squirrel onto the floor of the corridor. Conker grinned, sparks shooting from his cheeks.

"-First battle under my new trainer! I can't wait!-" Conker said excitedly.

"Ok, no holding back with this one! Attack with Spark!" Dawn called out, pointing a finger at Mars's zubat. Conker nodded enthusiastically, electricity crackling around his body, then literally leapt into action.

Mars smirked. "Zubat, catch it with Bite, then use Toxic and Leech Life." The zubat maintained its position as Conker jumped toward it, opening its mouth and biting down on Conker's left shoulder as he made contact. Both pokemon were brought down to the ground, Mars's zubat keeping a tight grip in spite of the electricity coursing through its body and didn't let go even when it hit the ground.

Mars's zubat proved to be much tougher than the one belonging to the grunt Dawn defeated earlier, as would be expected of a commander. It spat a toxic substance at Conker, hitting the shoulder in its mouth. Conker squeaked in pain as the poison seeped into his body. The zubat then started to suck energy out of Conker's body, grip loosening slightly.

"That looked painful..." Dawn muttered, wincing. "Okay, hang in there Conker! Knock it off with another Spark!" Conker's eyes narrowed in determination. He quickly stood up, lifting the zubat off the ground even as it remained attached to Conker's shoulder. Electricity poured out of Conker's cheeks, surrounding his body and shocking the zubat. Conker then rammed into the floor shoulder-first, delivering the final blow. The zubat finally let go, laying on the ground unconscious as Conker stood up again.

"Yay! You beat her pokemon!" the young girl behind Dawn cheered, causing Dawn to smile slightly.

"Not bad. That tells me you're an above-average trainer, if nothing else," Mars said as she recalled her fainted zubat. "My zubat alone is enough to deal with most trainers, whose pokemon never survive hitting her with a contact move."

_That's hardly surprising_, Dawn thought, looking down at Conker. He was already panting heavily from exhaustion. The toxic-induced poison was taking a toll on his body. _Combination attacks are always powerful, even if they're sometimes impractical._

"Well then, here's my main attacker." Mars said, taking a pokeball in her hand and releasing her next pokemon. A rather fat, blue and white feline pokemon with a head and tail resembling a glameow appeared and let out a deep-sounding meow. "This is Purugly. I wonder how you will fare against it?" Mars said, chuckling to herself.

"Conker, good job with the zubat! Sit this one out!" Dawn said, recalling Conker before the poison could finish him. _Purugly huh?_ she thought. _Looks like an overfed glameow, pretty much_. After considering her opponent, Dawn took a pokeball from her belt.

"Ok, Jax, you can handle this one too!" Dawn pressed the button, releasing her muscular fighting pokemon from his pokeball. Expecting Jax to appear and look ready to fight, she was surprised that he seemed to be incredibly exhausted instead. Realizing what was wrong, Dawn gasped. _The poison! I forgot about the stunky's poison gas!_

"Looks like that one is already weakened," Mars said to herself, chuckling. "Purugly, put it out of its misery. Scratch." Purugly nodded and moved toward Jax before the fighting pokemon had any time to react, extending her claws and slashing down the front of Jax's body. Jax cried out in pain and fell to the ground, losing consciousness almost immediately.

"Jax...sorry," Dawn mumbled, recalling Jax. Without thinking, without knowing, she had released a severely weakened pokemon to fight for her. All she had to show for it was the realization that a purugly was surprisingly fast for such a fat cat. Returning Jax's pokeball to her belt and moving her hand to grab another, Dawn decided to send out her most reliable pokemon.

"Bowser, I choose you!" Dawn called out, releasing Bowser into the corridor. Bowser blinked when he appeared, looking around at the unfamiliar surroundings. His gaze fell upon Mars's purugly when the large feline pokemon hissed at him.

_Is it just me, or does Dawn have a habit of attracting the worst trainers?_ Bowser thought, his body tensing. He could feel the hostility in the air both from the feline pokemon and Team Galactic.

"Interesting, that's quite the rare pokemon you have there," Mars said, admiring the turtwig. _Perhaps I should rethink letting her go so easily when Purugly beats her pokemon,_ she thought.

"Bowser was my first pokemon and nearly beat Roark on his own, he won't lose easily!" Dawn said to Mars. Bowser couldn't help but smile at the recognition. "Bowser! Attack that purugly with Razor Leaf!"

_If this is her best, then I'll know purugly can handle the rest of her pokemon_, Mars thought with a smirk. "Purugly! Faint Attack!"

Bowser twirled his head-leaf, firing several sharp leaves at the purugly. It was already moving by the time Bowser had attacked, though. Running toward him as if making a frontal attack, it suddenly vanished before the leaves would hit it. Purugly then reappeared behind a confused Bowser shortly after, striking him from behind with her claws and knocking him across the floor. With nothing between Purugly and Dawn, the feline pokemon extended her claws and looked to her trainer.

_No, there's no need for anything so drastic, Mars thought_, shaking her head. "Purugly, keep on the attack with Scratch!"

_That thing is just too fast, I need to distract it somehow!_ Dawn thought. "Bowser, quick! Withdraw!"

Mars's purugly charged again, her legs a blur of movement as she moved to attack. Bowser quickly withdrew into his shell to protect himself, but that didn't stop the purugly from attacking. Instead, it placed one paw on top of Bowser's shell to hold him in place and repeatedly slashed at the shell itself. Each blow struck hard, bouncing Bowser around inside.

_This looks bad, it's still hurting him even while withdrawn! We're completely outmatched against this thing!_ Dawn thought. _There has to be some way to..._ Suddenly it dawned on her that Bowser was in the perfect position to attack. With the purugly standing over him, he could easily hit it from the underside. Dawn realized Bowser had a technique which, from this position, he'd be able to use to great effect.

"Bowser! Tackle and Tickle!" Dawn commanded.

_Great, no ignoring it this time_, Bowser thought in dismay. He waited for a chance to move, a green glow briefly surrounding him as the purugly's continued attacks weakened him. He carefully timed his maneuver, waiting until purugly made one last attack before thrusting his hind legs out. The movement caught the purugly off guard, allowing Bowser to slip from her grip and shoot into her stomach.

Bowser's Tackle attack struck Purugly with enough force to roll her onto her back, at which point Bowser emerged completely and landed on top of her. Leaning his head down and digging his toes into her, he started tickling her. The large cat squirmed and cried out repeatedly in a drawn-out meowing that sounded almost like laughter.

_She can't be serious_, Mars thought, palm against her forehead and shaking her head in dismay. _Tickling! She's resorting to tickling! This...this is humiliating!_ Behind her, the old man was getting a chuckle at the red-haired commander's expense.

"Now down it in one hit with Razor Leaf!" Dawn called out, hoping Bowser's assault had drained the purugly of it's strength. Bowser stopped the tickling and quickly jumped up, curling and spinning in the air to fire several leaves straight down. Unfortunately, while it was weakened by the tickling, the purugly could still move with the same speed and rolled out from under the attack.

"We won't be defeated by such techniques! Purugly, Scratch!" Mars commanded her pokemon. As Bowser fell back toward the floor, Purugly extended one paw to scratch him from below. Purugly's claws dragged across Bowser's weaker underbelly and hurled him through the air. He landed at Dawn's feet and remained motionless, a dazed look on his face.

_That relentless attack must have hurt Bowser a lot more than I thought_, Dawn thought, letting out a sigh as she recalled Bowser. _Well, Bowser didn't go down without achieving something at least_. Looking at Purugly, Dawn could still tell it was suffering from the tickle attack. Laughing so much had left it exhausted and gasping for breath. It still had energy to spare, but Dawn knew if she attacked quickly she could still take advantage of its weakened state.

"Can...can you still win?" the young girl asked nervously.

"Don't worry, turns out this boss isn't immune to debuffs." Dawn replied with a smirk as she drew another pokeball from her belt. Her comment left the girl confused, not understanding the terms.

"Captain Falcon, go!" Dawn called out, releasing the starly from her pokeball. She appeared on the floor with her wings folded behind her, but let out a loud cry and took off when she saw the purugly and hovered at eye level.

"-That's a big one...and there's a roof here.-" Captain Falcon said bitterly, eying the menacing-looking feline. "-No choice but to fight.-"

_Of course. Having taken out her rare turtwig, she's down to common pokemon now._ Mars grinned. _That starly will be easy prey for Purugly._

"Starly, make the first hit! Quick Attack!" Captain Falcon dove down, flying in low and fast to hit the purugly in the face with blinding speed. Purugly cried out in pain and staggered back, feeling the attack much more than it usually would thanks to Bowser's tickling. It was still trying to catch it's breath and the stress from the battle was slowing its recovery.

"Your small bird is no match for my big cat!" Mars called out confidently, unaware of her pokemon's situation. "Purugly, attack with Scratch!" Purugly moved forward, letting out an angered cry as it slashed Captain Falcon out of the air with a Scratch attack. Purugly's claws raked against the right side of Captain Falcon's body, the attack knocking her onto her other side due to how low to the floor she was still. To Mars's surprise, Captain Falcon immediately hopped back onto her feet and shook it off.

"Now's your chance! Wing Attack!" The close distance between the two pokemon left Mars's purugly with little chance to dodge as Captain Falcon hopped toward it. Captain Falcon struck Purugly with her strong wings, the purugly crying out in pain as she was thrown onto her back. She managed to roll back onto her feet, but then collapsed once she was standing again. Purugly didn't have the strength left to battle.

"-Wait, I actually won?-" Captain Falcon blinked in disbelief, surprised at her victory over the large feline. "-Wow. I couldn't have been the only one to fight this thing.-"

"Im...impossible! I lost!?" Mars's fists were shaking with rage upon the realization. After a moment, she calmed down and took out a pokeball and recalled her purugly. "Well. I guess I slipped up then. No matter."

"This is quite disappointing, seeing one of Team Galactic's commanders losing to a mere child," the old man said to Mars, folding his hands behind his back. "What will you do now, Mars?"

"Hmph. I don't need you lecturing me," Mars snapped at him and then looked back to Dawn. "As promised, we'll leave. We were just about done here anyway, it makes little difference."

_She says they were almost done, but no matter how many weeks I waited before doing this they still would have been here,_ Dawn thought, rolling her eyes.

"You four grunts, listen up! Gather up the Galactic Batteries, we're moving out!" Mars commanded them. The grunts gulped nervously and nodded, heading further down the corridor and into another room. They emerged soon after, each carrying a large black box, each topped with two small rods. One was red and the other was black, indicating positive and negative charges. The grunts continued past Dawn and the commanders, carrying the batteries outside.

"Before I leave, perhaps you wouldn't mind telling me the name of the trainer who managed to beat me today?" Mars asked Dawn.

_Ok! This is my chance to make a better introduction!_ Dawn thought, adopting a serious expression. "I am...DAWN! The trainer that smites evil!"

"...If you say so." Mars smirked and shook her head. She's merely a child, one who got lucky. Nothing to concern myself with, she thought. Mars and the other commander walked past Dawn, heading out of the building, with the old man briefly stopping to look her over out of curiosity.

"Wow! You really beat them!" the girl cheered, the pot on her head falling off and clattering to the floor as she jumped for joy. She ran out in front of Dawn and turned to face her. "You're amazing! I want to be just like you when I'm a trainer!"

"If you want to be just like me, then all you need to do is...play video games!" Dawn said to her, pointing a finger dramatically. The girl was silent for a moment, then nodded and saluted her.

"Understood!" the girl replied. She then ran off down the corridor and into the room the Galactic grunts had come out of earlier. Dawn soon followed behind her, arriving in the room in time to see the girl recoiling from a black haired man in a labcoat. "Eww! You smell! Go take a shower, stinky!"

"Haha! Sorry!" the man apologized, rubbing the back of his neck. "They had me working nonstop..."

_I hate to interrupt this... touching scene, but..._ Dawn cleared her throat, getting their attention. "So, someone's going to restore power to Floaroma now, right?"

"Oh, of course! That'd only take me a minute!" the man replied. "I still have no idea what they needed all that power for, however."

"Dawn! Thank you!" the girl said to her. "I bet the balloon pokemon will be back too now that the bad guys are gone!"

_Balloon pokemon?_ Dawn blinked. _I...I guess that's all I'm getting? Oh well, I've got what I really wanted anyway._

Dawn said goodbye to the pair and headed outside, finally ready to head back to the pokemon center and recharge her DS. Upon stepping outside, however, she found a bush in front of the door.

"Ok. I'm positive that wasn't here before." Dawn said, folding her arms. "Who's there?"

"You are quite sharp! Once again I am unmasked!" the bush said to her. Dawn immediately knew who it was, and her suspicions were confirmed when Looker himself emerged from the bush. "Team Galactic was here, yes?" he asked her.

"You're a bit late for that, I just chased them off," Dawn replied.

"Chased them off, you say?" Looker hummed thoughtfully, stroking his chin. "I see...then I shall take a look inside to see what it was that they have been doing." Dawn moved aside to let Looker past, still wearing his bush disguise as he stepped inside.

"As always, the police are useless," Dawn said with a sigh. "Nevermind, I have more important things to do. Like recharging my DS!" Dawn then continued on her way, heading back into Floaroma to do just that.

* * *

Author's Notes: If she's willing to do all that just to recharge her DS then I don't want to know what she'd do for a klondike bar. Dawn's video game addled mindset was surprisingly helpful in this instance, though.

Recently, it occurred to me that I read Farla's review wrong. Somehow. I thought it said "its = it is, it's = possessive" when it was the other way around. Whoops. I really have a bad habit for seeing words that aren't there sometimes...

Was going to have Bridget beat the Purugly originally. However, after deciding on a certain scene for the next chapter, I thought it'd be better if Captain Falcon was the one to beat Mars's Purugly.


	7. Chapter 7: Escort Mission

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter Seven**

**Escort Mission**

Finally leaving Floaroma and traversing through Route 205, Dawn now found herself in Eterna Forest. It was a calm, serene place with thick trees all around. Sunlight filtered down through the canopy of leaves overhead, keeping the forest well-lit in spite of the shadows cast by the trees.

"Well this is disappointing. With a fancy-sounding name like 'Eterna Forest', I was expecting a maze," Dawn said in dismay as she looked around. Hearing a faint buzzing noise she looked down and saw a black and yellow pokemon with three faces hovering around her travel bag.

"Shoo! Shoo!" Dawn flicked her hand at it. The pokemon backed away at first, then circled Dawn before flying off into the trees. "What would a combee be bothering me for, now?" she wondered. She thought it over for a moment but couldn't think of anything. Shrugging to herself, she continued further into the forest.

It was the middle of the day when Dawn's journey into the Eterna Forest began. After restoring power to Floaroma and getting her pokemon restored, Dawn spent the rest of the day in a hotel room recharging and playing her DS. Crossing Route 205 the next day would take her most of the morning just to get to the forest, but she was still determined to get to Eterna City before the end of the day. Only one major obstacle stood in her way.

"Come to think of it, which direction am I supposed to be going?" Dawn wondered aloud, looking around the forest. Her surroundings were of no help to her, trees and grass as far as the eye could see.

"Excuse me? Are you lost?" Dawn whirled around, startled by the sound of a woman's voice from behind her. She came face to face with a green-haired woman that was at least in her early twenties, old by comparison to most trainers Dawn had encountered. "If you're heading to Eterna City, perhaps we could travel together?"

"Eh...? Travel together?" A warning light flashed in Dawn's mind.

The woman smiled and nodded to her. "Yes. Allow me to properly introduce myself, my name is Cheryl," the woman said to her. "I am on my way to Eterna City, but I hear a group known as Team Galactic has been causing trouble lately and there is safety in numbers."

The alarm bells in Dawn's head were really going off now. _This...this is an ESCORT MISSION!_ Dawn realized, a chill going through her body. _The dreaded escort mission! Bane of gamers everywhere! One wrong move and the weaker escortee will be killed off and then it's game over!_

"My pokemon is not the best in a fight," Cheryl continued, taking out a pokeball and releasing a large, pink, egg-shaped pokemon. Dawn immediately recognized it as a chansey, a common pokemon in pokemon centers and hospitals. "But I carry plenty of medicine and Chansey can heal your own pokemon with Softboiled."

The alarm bells died down slightly. Ok, it won't be so bad if she can keep her pokemon alive on her own, right? Dawn thought, then nodded to Cheryl. "Ok then, sure. My name's Dawn, by the way," she said to Cheryl.

"Dawn?" Cheryl blinked in disbelief, silent for a moment, and then smiled at her again. "Well that's certainly not a common name, is it?"

Dawn shrugged. "I guess not. It's too easy to make pu..." Dawn was interrupted by a loud buzzing noise. Another combee was checking out Dawn's travel bag. "Hey! I said shoo, already!" Dawn flicked her hand at the pokemon and it quickly flew away, buzzing noisily. "That's twice now! What's with those pokemon!?"

"Perhaps you smell of honey?" Cheryl suggested. "In any case, shall I lead the way? I know the forest well."

"Yeah, good idea, you lead," Dawn replied, glancing around cautiously for any sign of more combee. Cheryl started off heading through the forest and Dawn followed behind her. Dawn briefly spotted another combee shortly after they started moving, but it flew away before even getting close.

_Seriously, they can't really smell honey from my bag, can they?_ she wondered, casting a curious glance at the bag hanging at her side. _I have a pretty big jar in there, but it's still in a jar! They couldn't possibly smell that, could they?_

While Dawn and Cheryl were walking the two struck up a conversation, albeit one-sided as Dawn had little to say. She learned that Cheryl was a herbalist, a word that immediately translated to 'party healer' in Dawn's mind. Cheryl made frequent trips into the forest to collect various herbs, flowers, and even sweet honey. She would use the items she collected to make special medicines, the same ones she used to heal her pokemon.

"Sometimes Gardenia, the gym leader in Eterna City, gives me a hand," Cheryl said to Dawn. "The herbs are sold in a local shop, and some trainers even prefer them as a more natural counterpart to the standard potions and such. I don't think they are very popular with pokemon, though." As Cheryl said this, Dawn noticed the woman's chansey wince and stick out her tongue.

She can say that again, Dawn thought. Continuing along with Cheryl and her chansey, a pair of wurmple suddenly dropped down from the trees while hanging from a thread. Dawn shrieked at their sudden appearance, sending them scurrying back up their threads.

"Oh my...you really do seem to be attracting many pokemon today, don't you?" Cheryl said to Dawn, smiling softly. "Don't worry. Most of the pokemon here are absolutely harmless so long as you don't anger them. Beware of any wild buneary, however."

Dawn blinked. "Wild buneary? Why worry about those?"

"They're not very friendly, and one hit from their ears will be enough to put you in the infirmary," Cheryl cautioned her.

_I'm so glad Bridget doesn't hate me enough to hit me, then_, Dawn thought.

"HEY! You two!" Hearing a pair of voices yelling to them, Dawn and Cheryl blinked and looked straight ahead into the forest.

Two young trainers emerged from the trees ahead of Dawn and Cheryl. One was a young boy, roughly Dawn's age, wearing a straw hat and carrying a butterfly net strapped to his back. The other was a young girl of the same age and wearing a navy blue and white school uniform with a red skirt, suggesting she had just left a pokemon academy.

"We challenge you two to a pokemon battle!" the two called out in unison.

_Urk!_ Dawn winced. _Random encounter! With trainers!_

"Oh my, seems we've been challenged to a tag battle!" Cheryl said. She sounded surprised, but Dawn could tell from the smile on Cheryl's face as she turned to her that she wasn't the least bit upset. "Dawn, shall we accept their challenge? It's not often I get to battle other trainers."

Dawn let out a sigh. "Fine...couldn't hurt to give my pokemon a chance to battle normal trainers." She slowly reached down, plucking a pokeball from her belt. "Captain Falcon, go!" She pressed the button, causing the pokeball to open and released Captain Falcon. The small bird appeared on the forest floor, a glint in her eye once she realized where she was.

_Great! Another battle, and this time in the forest!_ Captain Falcon thought to herself. _My escape is assured!_

"Good! I look forward to seeing how you battle," Cheryl said to her, then nodded to her chansey. Chansey hopped out in front of her trainer, positioning herself next to Captain Falcon for the battle.

"Alright! And no crying when we beat you!" the young boy called out as he took a pokeball in his hand. "I'm Donald, and I'm the best bug catcher around! Me and my Burmy Brigade will show you!" He then held out his pokeball, releasing a wormlike bug pokemon with a body covered by a cloak of sand, dirt, and rock.

"And I'm Briana! My pokemon is the strongest in my class!" the girl, Briana, said. She drew a pokeball and released her pokemon, sending out a pachirisu.

That burmy's a bug type, this will be easy as long as Cheryl can take out the pachirisu! Dawn thought, grinning to herself. "Captain Falcon, attack the burmy with Wing Attack!" Captain Falcon flapped her wings and took off, flying toward the bug catcher's burmy to attack. Donald waited until Captain Falcon was too close to pull back before making his move.

"Burmy! Protect!" the boy called out. His burmy surrounded itself in a blue, transparent bubble. Captain Falcon struck the bubble with her wings when she tried to attack, but to no avail. Pushing back from her foe, Captain Falcon hovered a foot away from it and considered her next move.

"Our turn now! Pachirisu, Spark!" the girl, Briana, called out. Her pachirisu suddenly rushed toward Captain Falcon, sparks dancing around its body, and tackled her. Captain Falcon screeched in pain as electricity coursed through her body and the impact threw her to the ground. Standing side by side, the pachirisu and burmy snickered at her, the burmy dropping its barrier while doing so.

"Cheap shot..." Dawn muttered, clenching her fist. Captain Falcon hopped back on her feet and glared at her attacker.

"I believe it's my turn now," Cheryl said calmly. "Chansey, Egg Bomb." Cheryl's chansey took the egg from her pouch and hurled it at the two pokemon. The egg created a small explosion when it hit the ground, catching both pokemon in the blast. The pachirisu and burmy cried out in surprise as they were struck and knocked to the ground.

Great! And now I'm being shown up by the person I'm supposed to be escorting! Dawn thought in dismay. "Captain Falcon! Don't just stand there, use Wing Attack again!"

"-Alright, alright!-" Captain Falcon hopped into the air, wings outstretched but not using them to fly. Instead, she struck Donald's burmy with her wings as she dropped down next to it. The burmy cried out in pain and was knocked aside, falling unconscious when it hit the ground.

"Damn it! That one needed to battle more than the rest of my burmy did!" Donald growled, glaring at Dawn as he recalled his pokemon.

_Oh yeah? But that's not my problem_, Dawn thought, narrowing her eyes at him in return.

_That...that's it?_ Captain Falcon thought, looking at Dawn in dismay. _No excited cheering or anything, not even the least bit distracted?_ She shook her head and then spread her wings. _Nevermind! I'll escape now regardless! I can use the trees for cover and..._

"Hey! Don't forget about me!" Briana yelled. "Pachirisu, Spark!" Briana's pachirisu charged its body with electricity and tackled into Captain Falcon, roughly shoving her aside while sending a shock through her body. The attack hurt her greatly and, when she tried to get back up, she felt paralysis run through her body. Once again, Captain Falcon's escape plans were ruined.

"Dawn, you should recall your starly," Cheryl suggested. Dawn nodded in agreement, taking Captain Falcon's pokeball in her hand. Cheryl, meanwhile, called out another attack. "Chansey, use Psychic." Chansey nodded, focusing her gaze on Briana's pachirisu while Dawn withdrew Captain Falcon. A blue glow surrounded the pachirisu, which was then hoisted into the air and forcefully slammed into the ground. Pachirisu was knocked out instantly.

"That's my only pokemon too..." Briana said remorsefully, recalling her pokemon. The boy next to her, however, was snickering to himself and taking out another pokeball.

"Don't think this is over! Or did you forget that I said I had other burmy!?" the boy yelled, a wild look in his eye. "I will show you the power...of BUG POKEMON!"

_Wow, I'm glad I don't get that obsessed over anything_, Dawn thought, staring blankly at the boy.

"This burmy is a lot more powerful than the one you just fought!" Donald held out the pokeball, preparing to release his pokemon. Briana rolled her eyes at the boy's over-the-top-gestures. "Prepare yourself for..." The boy stopped mid-sentence and fell completely silent, allowing for a faint buzzing noise to be heard by Dawn and Cheryl. Looking up, they could see another combee circling and slowly moving toward Dawn. This one had a red dot in the middle of its three faces.

"Oh, another one of those things?" Dawn frowned. "This is getting annoying, I wonder if I have anything to swat it with..."

"COMBEE! A FEMALE COMBEE!" Donald suddenly shrieked, startling everyone present. In his surprise, he dropped his pokeball to the ground. He charged toward Dawn, fumbling to reach for his butterfly net. The female combee quickly took off, the bug catcher chasing behind her and waving his net around frantically. He accidentally smacked Dawn in the side of the head as he ran by, knocking her off her feet.

"H-hey! Wait up!" Briana shouted after him, quickly picking up the pokeball he dropped. "You dropped your burmy!" she yelled, then chased off after him. She stopped briefly to bow to Dawn in apology and then kept going.

"Ow..." Dawn groaned slowly sitting up and glaring in the direction of the two. "That hurt...but at least he had to call off the battle." Dawn let out a sigh and stood up, dusting herself off and idly wondering aloud, "What's so special about female combee anyway?"

"The female of the species is actually rather rare," Cheryl explained to her. "Females are also the only ones to evolve, so trainers capture them almost exclusively for that reason."

"Oh." Dawn blinked. _For someone I'm supposed to be escorting, she's turning out more like a mentor...but doesn't that mean she's going to inevitably die?_

"In any case, that was a fun little distraction," Cheryl said, smiling. "Before we move on, would you like for Chansey to heal your starly?"

_That's right, chansey can heal other pokemon_, Dawn thought. She could recall hearing that once, likely from her mother. She nodded to Cheryl and took Captain Falcon's pokeball from her belt, releasing the small bird pokemon. Captain Falcon was still paralyzed when she materialized and very weak from the previous battle.

"-Great...what now?-" the starly muttered, looking around nervously.

"Ok, Chansey, do your thing," Cheryl instructed her pokemon. Chansey nodded and approached Captain Falcon, taking an egg out of her pouch. Though she had already used one to attack earlier, a new one had formed since then. Captain Falcon closed her eyes in fear, expecting the chansey to throw the egg at her. Instead, the egg was broken over Captain Falcon's head and a strange clear liquid splashed over her. She immediately felt re-energized, but found she could still barely move when she tried to flap her wings.

"-Hey, any chance you could do something about this paralysis?-" Captain Falcon asked the chansey. Chansey shook her head in response, but then turned to her trainer.

"Oh, it looks like your starly was paralyzed by that last attack too." Cheryl reached into a small pouch at her side and approached Captain Falcon. Seeing her trainer take a small cloth sack out of the pouch, Chansey shuddered. "Here, this will help you feel better," Cheryl said to the small bird, opening the cloth and leaving the powder in a pile in front of her.

_Good. Once the paralysis is gone I'm free to make my escape._ Captain Falcon took a few quick pecks at the pile of powder, snapping up a pinch with each. After the third peck, the taste finally hit her and she went into shock. _THIS IS THE WORST TASTE EVER!_

Cheryl stood back and sighed. "Perhaps I should consider using sweet honey to make it easier on the pokemon."

_Yes! Yes you should!_ her chansey thought, glaring at her.

"So, if Captain Falcon had this, she could stomach that powder better?" Dawn asked Cheryl, holding out the large jar of sweet honey she had just retrieved from her travel bag. She easily had at least a litre of the stuff. Cheryl blinked in disbelief when she saw it.

"You have quite a bit there! Where did you get it?" Cheryl asked.

"Some old guy in Floaroma gave it to me for driving off some crooks," Dawn said to her, looking down at the top of the jar. "I had to pick it up myself because it was in the bottom shelf of his storage and he had a bad back so he couldn't bend over to get it. Though, I wonder why he'd keep anything on that shelf if he has a bad back?"

"I'm sure he had his reasons," Cheryl said, smiling faintly while wondering if she should report the old man in question. "In any case, why not try adding some to the powder?"

Dawn nodded and popped the white top off the jar. Digging two fingers in, she scooped out a small gob of the sticky stuff and then plopped it down in the powder. "There, try that!"

"-Huh?-" Captain Falcon regarded the gob of honey curiously before taking a quick peck at it. Her taste buds were immediately overwhelmed. _So...sweet! I have never tasted something so sweet before!_ she thought, taking several more quick pecks at it and taking in some of the powder at the same time. The bitterness of the powder went completely unnoticed alongside the sweetness of the honey, so Captain Falcon quickly finished it off and immediately felt her body becoming free of paralysis.

"-I feel good as new!-" Captain Falcon cried out, spreading her wings.

"I never would have imagined I'd actually find a use for this stuff," Dawn said, blinking in disbelief at the jar she still held in her hands. Noticing the bit of honey still on her fingers, she was reminded that she'd need to wash it off. She put the jar down and reached into her travel bag with her clean hand and took out a bottle of water and the upper half of her ripped outfit, using it to clean her fingers.

While Dawn was busy cleaning her hand, a familiar buzzing noise was heard. Another combee appeared from the trees and descended toward the jar of honey. It seemed to be contemplating how to take the honey for itself when Captain Falcon suddenly thwapped it with her wing.

"-Get your own!-" Captain Falcon yelled at it. The combee glared angrily and then floated high up into the air.

"Oh, I wish it didn't do that..." Cheryl said, sighing as she looked up at the combee.

"Huh?" Dawn blinked and looked up as well. "They were getting annoying anyway. Why? What's it doing?" Cheryl didn't say anything, but soon Dawn could smell just what the combee was up to for herself as a sweet scent filled the air. Blinking in disbelief, she turned to Cheryl and asked, "What's that smell?"

"Sweet scent," Cheryl said. "Its calling for allies." Before Dawn could question what she meant, a very loud buzzing noise filled the air. The combee flying above them was soon accompanied by over a dozen more, including a larger bee pokemon with a honeycomb on the lower part of its body. The first combee could then be seen directing their attention toward Captain Falcon.

"Well I'm glad to see it's not taking the whole 'smacked away' thing too harshly," Dawn said in a sarcastic tone. She took out Captain Falcon's pokeball to recall her, but then realized the starly had already taken off. "Wait, where did..." Before Dawn could finish, the combee swarm swooped down and flew into the trees, taking off after Captain Falcon. The larger bee pokemon pursued more slowly, flying over the top of the trees.

"I believe Captain Falcon is trying to flee from the combee." Cheryl said, a serious expression on her face as she turned to Dawn. "We should give chase as well, if anything were to happen..."

"Not a chance! I'm not losing a party member this early in the game!" Dawn snapped in response, then took off in the same direction. Both her jar of honey and Cheryl were left behind in her haste.

"Party member? What does she mean by that?" Cheryl wondered aloud. Picking up Dawn's jar, Cheryl took her chansey's pokeball in hand and turned to her pokemon. "It will be easier if you went in your pokeball." The chansey nodded, allowing Cheryl to recall her. Cheryl then ran after Dawn, moving as fast as she could in her long dress and carrying the jar in one hand.

* * *

_Ha! This is perfect!_ Captain Falcon thought as she weaved through the trees at a breakneck pace. _Escape at last! Not only that, but when Dawn isn't able to find me, she'll only be able to assume the worst and stop looking! All I have to do is lead these combee far enough away from her and then figure out what to do with them._

Looking back, Captain Falcon could see few combee and the ones she could see were lagging quite far behind her. "-Better slow down a bit and let them catch up.-" Captain Falcon slowed her flapping to let the slower combee catch up. Almost instantly, they caught up to her, more appearing from the trees to her sides. She was completely surrounded, anyone that could see her would only see a swarm of combee moving through the forest.

"-Grr...what an unpredictable opponent...-" Captain Falcon muttered. While trying to figure out her next move, she caught a glimpse of the evolved vespiquen hovering in the air and watching the scene unfold. _That larger pokemon hasn't done anything, is it maybe controlling them? I'll target that, then!_

Captain Falcon spread her wings, suddenly stopping herself and breaking through the rear of the formation. She flapped her wings just enough to stay in the air, her body glowing briefly and then splitting off into several fake starly images. After the combee turned around and saw the multiple starly, each one took off in a different direction. The real starly moved low through the bushes, maneuvering to get under the larger pokemon.

"-NOW!-" Captain Falcon shot up out of the bushes, flapping furiously to get to the other pokemon. She didn't even get close before finding herself faced with a wall of combee and forced to stop. "-What the?! How did they figure me out?!-"

The combee took the chance to attack and began flapping their tiny wings. Their combined efforts sent a strong gust of wind at Captain Falcon, blowing her back down toward the ground until she hit the dirt. They then followed her down and surrounded her again to unleash another combined Gust attack, keeping her pinned down.

"-D-damn it!-" Captain Falcon grunted, wincing at the wind blasting her into the ground. "-I won't let it end here...I have to escape! I have to escape so I can fly free again!-"

The combee kept up their attack, keeping her pinned. She didn't have the strength to fight back. But as she endured it, her body became enveloped in a white glow. Almost instantly her height was doubled and her head feather curled. Feeling her strength increase, she activated Double Team just before the glowing faded to leave four clones of herself within the wind while the real Captain Falcon darted off with Quick Attack.

_Amazing! So this is evolution?_ Captain Falcon thought, beak clenched in a sort of grin. _I don't know why I evolved so quickly, I thought it would be years before I'd be a staravia, but I'm not complaining! With this form, I can finish my business here!_

Feeling invigorated by her sudden evolution, Captain Falcon flew low through the trees and came up to the wild vespiquen from behind. "-Nice tornado formation,-" she said as she approached the pokemon. The vespiquen slowly turned to face her only to get hit in the face by both Captain Falcon's wings and fall back through the air.

"-NOW IT'S YOUR TURN!-" Captain Falcon called out, diving down after her and flying into the vespiquen with a Quick Attack. She drove the vespiquen down further and further, knocking several combee aside and pushing her into the middle of the rest while they were still using their Gust Attacks.

The vespiquen let out a pained buzzing noise as both pokemon were assaulted by the combee. Shortly after, Captain Falcon felt the last of her strength drain and collapsed on top of the fallen vespiquen. She used up too much of her strength enduring the combee's attacks the first time. The combee, realizing their mistake, finally stopped and the vespiquen threw the unconscious bird off her. She slowly stood up to her full height, looking pretty weak from the attacks she withstood as well.

"Conker! Spark!" Suddenly a pachirisu darted out of the trees and slammed into the vespiquen, electricity charged around its body. This was followed by a pokeball. Vespiquen was thrown to the ground again by the electric pokemon's tackle and then hit by the pokeball, which opened and pulled her inside. The pokeball shook several times and then locked shut.

"AND THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR MESSING WITH MY POKEMON!" Dawn yelled as she burst out of the nearby bushes. The wild combee, frightened by both Dawn's sudden appearance and the capture of their queen, quickly scattered.

"-Rescue complete!-" Conker said, thrusting one of his tiny hands into the air. Dawn walked up next to him and picked up the pokeball with the captured vespiquen, then glanced down at the evolved staravia.

"Captain Falcon looks...different somehow," Dawn mumbled, blinking.

Cheryl soon caught up with Dawn. Noticing the perplexed look she had at seeing Captain Falcon's new form, she smiled lightly. "It looks like you and your pokemon are ok. Your starly has even evolved."

"Evolved?" Dawn repeated, looking at Cheryl curiously. "You mean one of my pokemon actually evolved?"

"You're surprised by this?" Cheryl asked.

Dawn thought for a moment, then quickly shook her head. She didn't expect any of her pokemon to evolve, but that was because she didn't expect to be fighting with them much. Admitting that to Cheryl, though, was out of the question. "No, she did beat a boss recently..." was her eventual response.

"Well, it seems the combee have fled. Probably to find a new vespiquen, now," Cheryl said to her. "Shall we continue?"

"Right." Dawn nodded, thinking to herself, _the sooner we get out of this forest now the better! _Recalling Conker, Dawn and Cheryl started back on their way toward Eterna City.

* * *

Quite some time after the ordeal with the vespiquen and combee, Dawn and Cheryl found themselves nearing the forest's exit. Near the exit, however, was a rather strange sight compared to the rest of the forest. A large, worn-looking mansion with several large signs nailed to the front stood in the distance with a white picket fence, grown over with vines, separating it from the forest. A girl that could best be described as a forest ranger, wearing green boots and cloak, stood facing the building.

"Oh, if it isn't Gardenia," Cheryl said as she approached the woman alongside Dawn. The woman quickly turned around when she heard Cheryl's voice, a surprised look on her face that relaxed as soon as she saw Cheryl. "Trying to work up the courage to go inside again?"

"W-well it's not like I'm afraid to go in..." the woman, Gardenia, mumbled while rubbing the back of her head. "I mean, I'm a gym leader! I wouldn't be afraid of something so silly as ghost pokemon!"

_Gardenia...gym leader?_ Dawn thought, blinking. She looked at the two girls, then at the house up ahead. _I...I think it would be safe to leave Cheryl now. Escort mission, complete!_

"Of course not," Cheryl replied, chuckling to herself. Looking toward the house, she hummed thoughtfully to herself. "Come to think of it, though, those signs look a bit...odd, don't you think?"

"Yeah..." Gardenia nodded in agreement, turning to look back at the abandoned house. "What weird messages to have up...'Sidequest Here!'? 'Ask To Hear The Old Man's Tale!'? It must be someone's idea of a joke..."

"Joke or not, it seems to have gotten my travel partner's attention," Cheryl said. Gardenia glanced back at her curiously, looking for said travel partner as she didn't notice Dawn initially. Cheryl pointed back toward the house and Gardenia saw Dawn just before she opened the front door and stepped inside.

"H-hey! Wait! That could be dangerous!" Gardenia called out after her, seemingly forgetting about her fear as she jumped the fence and ran toward the door. It closed before she got there. Grabbing the handle, Gardenia frantically pulled on it to try to open it, but to no avail. "It won't open!"

"How peculiar..." Cheryl mumbled, stroking her chin thoughtfully. "It's almost as if someone wanted to lure Dawn inside with those signs." Cheryl then smiled and chuckled to herself. "Oh well. Dawn has six strong pokemon with her. I'm sure she will be ok."

As soon as Cheryl had said that the sound of maniacal laughter echoed from within the building. Gardenia shrieked and bolted away from the door.

"Th-that place really his h-h-h-haunted!" Gardenia stuttered, turning to look back once she was standing near the fence again. "That girl...she's trapped inside the haunted chateau!"

* * *

Author's Notes: A pokemon evolves, an evolved pokemon is caught, and a trap is sprung. I wonder who knows Dawn well enough to lure her in with promises of sidequests as bait?

...Right, like I'm really fooling anyone there.

Naturally, some old faces showing up next chapter and one of them will be using her own pokemon for a change. Somewhat.


	8. Chapter 8: Dusk's Trap

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter Eight**

**Dusk's Trap**

"Well, still want to 'hear the old man's tale'? Or have you figured it out already?"

Upon entering the chateau near the Eterna Forest's exit, Dawn found herself facing the villainous Dusk. The purple-cloaked girl stood stop a balcony overlooking the main foyer that Dawn had walked into. Dusk was accompanied by various ghost pokemon as well. Specifically, several balls of gas could be seen floating around her alongside a more jagged, purple pokemon with a pair of disembodied hands. Ghastly and haunter, respectively.

"You...you lured me in here with promises of sidequests?!" Dawn shook her fist at her. "You're the lowest, Dusk! THE LOWEST!"

_Is it just me, or is she becoming more and more convinced that the world is her own personal video game?_ Dusk thought, narrowing her eyes at Dawn. "Dawn, I think it's time I shattered your delusions. Do you have any idea where you are, now?"

"Some old, abandoned house in Eterna Forest?"

"Haunted house. It's haunted." Dusk corrected Dawn and then gestured to the ghost pokemon around her. "See these? Not mine. But you'd be surprised how easily I can coerce wild ghost pokemon into doing my bidding, thanks to the ghost-type being weak against itself."

"Wait...so you're seriously going to try to scare me with ghost pokemon?" Dawn asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That's kinda the point in luring you here," Dusk replied.

Dawn rolled her eyes and headed for the door. "Forget this, I'm leaving. I don't care if this IS a sidequest now." She reached for the doorknob and tried to turn it but, to her surprise, it wouldn't budge.

"Don't bother trying to escape," Dusk said to her. "Like I said, haunted house. You won't get out that easily."

"Ok..." Dawn turned around to face Dusk, looking serious all of a sudden and folding her arms over her chest. "Let me ask you something, then. Just what do you hope to achieve by keeping me locked up here? You're not going to scare me, not with ghost pokemon."

"As long as you can't leave, my job is done," Dusk said to her. "You're locked in, and there's no shortage of babysitters." Again, Dusk gestured to the gathered ghost pokemon. "I'll be leaving two of my own pokemon here to keep watch as well, naturally. You won't be going anywhere and I'm free to focus on other tasks."

"If I'm such a problem for you, then why not kill me now and be done with it?" Dawn asked her. "I never get why you villain-types never take the easy route like that. Always set up traps, capture the hero, but never finish them off."

"Hmph." Dusk glared at her. "Let me ask you this, then. What makes you so sure I'm the villain here?"

"Well..." Dawn held up her hand, counting off the reasons on her fingers. "One, you popped out of nowhere to challenge me. Two, you've been enslaving wild pokemon to do so. Three, you tried to turn my own pokemon against me. Four, you have that whole darkness thing going on. Five, you're concealing your identity."

_When she puts it that way, I really do seem like the villain here_, Dusk thought, eye twitching slightly. "Well what would you say if I told you that, if you were allowed to continue your journey, it could cause the end of the world?"

"I would probably say something heroic like," Dawn cleared her throat and then yelled, "I don't buy that for one second! You're just trying to confuse me, but I won't be fooled by that because I'm Dawn, the trainer that smites evil!"

After Dawn's speech, Dusk's hand went straight to her forehead. _This is beyond ridiculous! I swear, before this is over, I will destroy those stupid delusions of her's!_

"Well, I'm going to find another way out then," Dawn said to Dusk. Dusk lowered her hand slightly to watch Dawn as she walked to the left of the foyer, heading off into a side room.

"I already told her she wouldn't escape," Dusk muttered to herself. Feeling a presence still around her, she raised her hand and snapped her fingers. "And just what the hell are you all still around for?! Get to work!" she yelled. The gathered ghosts shuddered in fear of the girl and quickly dispersed, disappearing into the walls.

"Good..." Dusk let out a deep sigh. "I can tell this is going to be a long day. Better be something to drink in the fridge here..."

_You are far too young to be drinking, young lady_, a voice said in Dusk's mind.

"I don't want to hear that from you," Dusk mumbled in response.

* * *

"Wow. She's really going all out, even after I said she wouldn't be able to scare me," Dawn said to herself, blinking at the sight in the hallway. Old pictures lined the walls, pictures of famous and historic trainers. Each of them seemed to be looking straight at her, their eyes following her as she wandered down the hall. She kept going until she was at the end, standing at the far wall, then turned and looked back at the pictures. Sure enough, they were all still looking at her.

"You guys really are keeping a close watch on me, huh?" Dawn smirked at the pictures, taking a pokeball from her belt. "But I bet you didn't expect this! Jax, come on out!" The pokeball opened, releasing Jax from his pokeball. The first thing he saw when he emerged was the pictures all with their eyes on him and he shuddered.

"-Creepy. Real creepy,-" Jax mumbled.

"Jax, you're strong, right?" Dawn asked her pokemon. Jax turned and glared at her, feeling a bit insulted that she actually had to ask. Dawn got the message, though, and quickly stepped aside. "Ok, if I'm right then this wall should be all that stands between us and the forest outside. I don't care how long it takes, but break through it!"

Jax grinned and cracked his knuckles. "-This? This I can smash with just one punch. Just watch me.-" Jax approached the wall and raised one hand back, winding it up to give the wall one hard punch. Before he could, though, a haunter suddenly popped out of the wall in front of him. Startled, Jax stumbled back. The haunter's eyes then started to swirl, sending hypnotic waves of psychic energy at Jax until he finally fell into a deep sleep and collapsed to the floor. The haunter then gave a hearty laugh and retreated into the wall again.

"Clever. Real clever." Dawn muttered, recalling the sleeping Jax. Clipping his pokeball to her belt again, she let out a sigh. "I guess I should have known I couldn't break a wall, but after being lured in by a fake sidequest I thought it'd be worth a try. Maybe there's a window..." Dawn turned and looked around the hallway, seeing if there were any windows. While she didn't see any, she did see a young girl at the other side of the hall staring back at her.

"Huh? How did you..." As Dawn tried to speak to the girl, she suddenly ran into a side room. "Hey! Wait up!" Dawn ran down the hall, the eyes in the portraits following her the whole way again. When she tried to run into the room she saw the girl disappear into, she slammed right into the door and was knocked to the floor.

"Ow..." Dawn groaned, holding her face as she sat up. "What'd she do that for now?" Standing up and shaking it off, Dawn opened the door and stepped inside.

The room she found herself in looked like an old, decrepid bedroom. It certainly looked as if no one had lived there for a while, there were even springs sticking out of the mattress. However, in spite of this, the girl was nowhere to be found. There was also a tv in the room, turned on and displaying a ring of fire on the screen in spite of the cord being cut off in the middle.

"Oh, a 'haunted' tv now?" Dawn folded her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. "Right, wonder what pokemon is responsible for this one?" She quickly took another glance around the room and then said to herself, "Just where did that girl go for that matter?"

Dawn searched around the room, looking for the girl she saw enter it earlier. She checked under the bed, behind an old dresser, and in a small closet at the back, but found nothing. Not even a way out. The ghost pokemon in the tv, meanwhile, became increasingly frustrated that Dawn was ignoring it until finally a red ghost with lightning-like limbs emerged from the tv and screeched at Dawn to get her attention.

"Knew it," Dawn said to herself when she saw the pokemon. "That girl I saw just now was because of you, too, wasn't it?" The pokemon didn't respond, or at least didn't respond to Dawn's question. Instead, it glared at her and discharged electricity from its body. When Dawn didn't react, it fired a bolt at the floor near her, just barely missing her.

_I think I might have upset the little guy_, Dawn thought, eying the scorch mark where the electricity hit and drawing a pokeball. _Well, good a time as any to try out that pokemon I caught earlier._

"Elincia, go!" Dawn called out, releasing her recently captured vespiquen from her pokeball. Elincia the vespiquen materialized in the air with the comparatively small wings on her back flapping rapidly to keep her up. Elincia narrowed her eyes at the rotom in front of her, looking rather upset. The rotom glared and channeled electricity around its body in response.

"Elincia! Attack with Poison Sting!" The vespiquen twitched when she heard Dawn issuing an order and quickly turned around to face her.

"-You! You dare to capture me and then presume I would obey!? Fool!-" Vespiquen raised her clawed hand in the air. "-I am a vespiquen! I am no one's to command! Now face my wrath!-"

Dawn realized her mistake all too late as the vespiquen shot toward her, aiming to strike her with poison-tipped claws. Dawn froze in terror, unable to think of what to do against the very real threat she now faced. Lucky for her, Elincia never reached her. A pulse of electricity shot through the vespiquen's body, paralyzing it and sending it crashing to the floor only a foot away from her. The rotom then quickly moved in front of Dawn to protect her.

_Huh? Did that pokemon just...save me?_ Dawn thought, blinking in disbelief. _But that's Dusk's pokemon, isn't it? She had a pokemon like that with her when we first met, I'm sure of it..._

After blocking a swipe from Elincia's claws, the rotom turned to Dawn with an annoyed look on its face. With one of its bolt-like appendages, it pointed toward the pokeball Dawn was holding.

"Hmm?" Dawn looked at the pokeball, wondering what the rotom was trying to tell her. It took her a moment to figure out, during which time Elincia got up and tried to attack rotom with a Slash attack only to have her claws pass through rotom's body. Realizing it left itself open, the rotom turned to face Elincia again but kept a defensive stance.

"Oh! I can just recall her!" Dawn snapped her fingers and then proceded to do just that, pointing the pokeball at Elincia and recalling her. Elincia cried out in desparation as she was pulled into the ball and sealed inside. "Come to think of it, I could have just done that to Bowser that time too, couldn't I?"

"-GAH! Just how stupid can a person be!?-" Rotom shrieked in frustration, casting off electricity from its body. Dawn blinked at it in surprise. "-I'm going to go find something to strike you with now, excuse me!-" The rotom then quickly darted off, phasing through the rear wall of the bedroom.

"What was that about just now?" Dawn wondered, blinking. "Even more confusing though is that I still have no idea why that pokemon helped me. I could MAYBE accept that Dusk doesn't want me dead, but would it really matter to her any if that happened anyway?" Dawn pondered for a moment and then shrugged.

"Well, I guess it's required that I can't die. Or else we couldn't have a final showdown." Dawn grinned to herself and then quickly glanced around the room. "Now to get back to finding a way out of here..."

* * *

Dusk, meanwhile, had found her way to the kitchen easily enough. She had taken the time to familiarize herself with the chateau a bit, even setting it up as a temporary base of operations. It was a fairly large kitchen, the kind where chefs would work to prepare a fancy meal. Most of the equipment was old and rusted though, definitely not useable.

Most of the equipment, that is, except for five odd red appliances. A fridge, an oven, a fan, a lawnmower, and a washing machine. Only two of which even had any business being in the kitchen, those being the fridge and the oven. The two appliances in question were plugged in and useable while the other three were lined up in front of an old dishwasher. Dusk herself currently had her head in the fridge.

"Let's see, we've got pop, juice, some...purple stuff..." Dusk blinked in confusion. Reaching into the fridge, she took out a plate with a strange, purple cube on it. Dusk examined it for a moment and then raised an eyebrow. _Cake? I didn't put this in here, though._ She thought for a moment and shrugged. _Must have been the ghost pokemon, though I've never known ghosts to bake..._

Dusk turned around in time to see her rotom enter the kitchen from the wall. She followed its movements, noticing the sour expression on its face as it headed for the red oven. The oven then became surrounded by a strange glow. The rotom's face appeared on the oven and electricity shot out from it, forming into a pair of pincer-like hands.

"Charger?" Dusk's voice either went unheard by the rotom, or it simply ignored her. Charger floated into the air, taking the possessed oven with it, then floated toward the kitchen door and out of the room. "Charger looked pretty upset about something."

_It seems Charger is dealing with Dawn on its own now_, a voice said in Dusk's head. _By the way, you don't really intend to eat that, do you?_

"Well I certainly don't see the harm in it." Dusk replied, shrugging. "It's not like there's anyone who could have put it there with the intention of having me eatting it and getting sick or something."

_You should exercise caution, Dusk, it seems we are not the only ones at work in this chateau_, the voice cautioned her. Hearing this, Dusk reconsidered her snack and tossed the strange food aside.

"Probably wouldn't have been that good anyway."

* * *

"Captain Falcon, GO! Your's is the beak that'll break the wall!" Dawn called out, directing Captain Falcon toward the same wall she tried to break earlier. She had released Captain Falcon from the other end, giving her a flying start. Captain Falcon flew straight toward the wall, picking up speed.

"-And if I can break through...then it'll be my victory!-" Captain Falcon said. "-This time I will escape for-URK!-" Captain Falcon smashed beakfirst into the wall, but the wall didn't budge. Still weakened from the encounter with the combee and vespiquen, Captain Falcon was knocked out instantly and fell to the floor.

"Eh!? Just what is that wall made out of!?" Dawn shrieked. The haunter from before then emerged from the wall with a pair of ghastly. All three of them laughed at her before withdrawing inside again. Dawn clenched a fist angrily. "Ghosts...the wall is made of GHOSTS!"

Dawn walked halfway across the hall to recall Captain Falcon and then carefully considered her next move. She was already down to five pokemon, though realistically she had two. Jax was asleep in his pokeball and would need time to wake up before he would be useful, Bridget couldn't be relied on, and Elincia even less so. While Dawn was debating her next move, she suddenly heard a loud bang behind her and turned around to see what looked like a red oven with a face and crab-like pincers.

"What? Is that her next attempt to scare me?" Dawn said, blinking in disbelief. "The grin almost looks menacing but it just looks silly more than it does threatening."

"-Oh be quiet and fight me already!-" Rotom growled, stomping the floor furiously with its body and sending out sparks of electricity. "-Send out that grass-type of your's, you KNOW you want to!-"

"Looking for a fight, too..." Dawn let out a sigh and took a pokeball from her belt. "Ok, Bowser, you're my best bet for handling this ghost! Go!" The pokeball opened and released Bowser into the hallway, putting him almost exactly in the middle between Dawn and Charger.

"-Ah, good, another ghost.-" Bowser said, crouching down so he'd be ready to make his move. "-After that last one, I feel like I need to redeem myself!-"

"-Not today.-" Charger said simply. Charger opened the oven door and fired a massive inferno at Bowser, engulfing the poor grass pokemon completely. Bowser's pained cries couldn't be heard over the roar of the flames. After a few seconds, Charger closed the door again and the flames died down enough for Bowser's unconscious form to be seen admist the now burning floor.

"Fire breathing ghost...you'd think the oven would have given that away." Dawn muttered bitterly, recalling Bowser and placing his pokeball back on her belt. Looking at the burning floor, Dawn let out a sigh. "Great. And now the place is on fire too."

"-Yeah. I better fix this I guess.-" Charger turned and floated off the floor, heading back toward the chateau's kitchen.

"You know, maybe this is a good thing," Dawn said to herself, examining the flames while stroking her chin thoughtfully. The flames were spreading fairly quickly, already crawling up the walls and moving toward her. "Those flames will burn down the walls. I just need to find somewhere safe to hide until they reach the outside wall and..."

Dawn stopped mid-sentence and looked around the part of the corridor she was stuck in, finally realizing her predicament. Specifically, the flames now stood between her and the only real safety. If she tried hiding in any of the rooms branching off from the hallway, she ran the risk of getting trapped. Not that she wasn't already.

"Ok...might have a SLIGHT problem here..." Dawn mumbled to herself. Behind her, the roar of the flames grew louder.

* * *

Back in the kitchen, Dusk sat down at the 'island' counter in the middle of the kitchen with a sketchbook in one hand at a pencil in the other. Tapping the eraser-end of her pencil against her chin, she was debating what to draw before eventually turning to address a transparent old man.

"Hey, you have any ideas?" Dusk asked him. He had his back to her, but his head turned a full 360 degrees on it's on to face her and let out a blood curdling scream. Dusk sighed and shook her head. "No, that won't do at all."

_You seem quite relaxed, Dusk._

"I have an army of ghost pokemon doing my work for me, and Charger seems rather devoted today." As Dusk said this, Charger returned and placed the oven back next to the other appliances, then proceeded to possess the washing machine. Now sporting a pair of grabbers for hands, it grabbed the fan as well. Charger then floated out of the room, taking two appliances with it.

"Must be because its back home for today." Dusk mused, then shook her head. "Anyway, I'd like to relax for a bit and try drawing something. I haven't done that in a while."

_Very well, but I do believe you should look into the forces at work here,_ the voice cautioned her. _I feel something far more sinister than disgruntled ghost pokemon..._

"They're wasting their time trying to scare me anyway," Dusk said aloud, eying the ghostly old man. "I live among ghosts, seen pokemon whose very existance has been forgotten by the world, and visited realms that were never meant to be known by humans. It will take much more than a scary face to get to me."

After saying this, the ghostly visage glared at Dusk and suddenly faded away. Dusk then shrugged and turned back to her sketchbook. "If you're so worried about it, though, I'll check it out in a bit. I think I need to put those ghosts in their place again anyway."

_Seems that army you mentioned, though doing their job, would much prefer trying to scare you away_, the voice said to Dusk. _Perhaps if you didn't bully them into serving you, that would not be the case._

"It's the only way a wild pokemon would co-operate." Dusk muttered. Getting an idea in her head she started to doodle in her sketchbook. Slowly, the penciled form of a young girl started to take shape. "I'll remind them of that soon enough. I think I know what to draw now..."

* * *

"Come on, Jax! Now's not a good time to be sleeping on the job!" Dawn yelled, kicking the sleeping fighting pokemon in the side. Naturally, this did nothing to help wake Jax from a condition that would normally keep it asleep through lightning bolts and eaten dreams. Dawn had managed to retreat into the bedroom again and had hoped to break through the wall into another area of the mansion, but Jax was still asleep.

Sighing, Dawn turned to face the flames expanding from the wall nearest the burning hall. Smoke was filling the room, causing her to cough when she inhaled again. "With how much this trip's resembled a video game...I don't suppose I passed a save point without realizing it, did I?" she mumbled.

Suddenly, Dawn could hear the sound of water over the flames, as well as the sound of wood splintering. Soon enough, even the flames burning through the room she was in were suddenly put out by a burst of water that knocked down the walls. Unfortunately, that also filled the room with choking smoke. But even that was soon taken care of as a fan floated into the room and blew all the smoke out into the hallway. When the room was finally clear, Dawn could see the fan for herself. As well as a washing machine sitting nearby.

That fan...did it save me? Dawn wondered, blinking. The similarities between the fan floating in front of her and the oven that caused the fire to begin with were too great for even Dawn to ignore, especially when the fan turned around and she finally saw its face.

"Ah! Now I get it! You're that pokemon from before! The one that was in the tv!" Dawn yelled in surprise. The rotom nodded to her. "So you can possess electronic devices and get different powers...that's kinda neat."

_And finally I get the respect that I deserve!_ Charger thought, grinning to itself.

"But that means I've been saved twice by Dusk's pokemon now," Dawn mumbled, furrowing her brow. "This can only mean one thing..." Before Dawn could finish her train of thought, she could hear a groaning sound next to her as Jax finally came to and sat up. He surveyed his surroundings, blinking in disbelief and rubbing the back of his head.

"-Wow...what'd I miss exactly?-" He mumbled.

"Oh, sure, NOW you wake up!" Dawn grumbled, folding her arms. "Well nevermind, we still have walls to break so we can get out of this place!" Jax let out a sigh and stood up. He didn't feel particularly motivated now. In fact, sleeping again was sounding very nice. As he and Dusk tried to leave, though, the floating fan blocked their path. It let out a blast of sparks, letting them know they weren't getting past it.

"Ok then...Jax, do that Foresight thing and hit it!" Dawn commanded, pointing a finger at Charger. Jax nodded and focused to try to identify Charger's form, which would allow him to hit it with Normal-type and Fighting-type attacks.

While he was doing this, though, Charger went on the attack. The fan blades whirled, harmlessly blowing air at first but then suddenly a large, spinning blade of air shot out and slashed across Jax's body. Jax grunted in pain, eyes going wide from the shock of being hit by such a powerful technique. He collapsed to the floor, down and out already.

"Great. Well now I'm definitely not breaking any walls," Dawn muttered, recalling Jax. With its task complete, Charger floated down to the ground and emerged from the fan it was possessing. It then possessed the washing machine again, grabbed the fan, and floated off with them.

"Dusk's pokemon all seem pretty tough, almost like I'm not supposed to be fighting her at this point in the game," Dawn mumbled, letting out a sigh. "I swear, after I get out of here, no more sidequests!"

Dawn then dashed out of the room and into the burnt-out hallway. To her dismay, the flames didn't seem to reach the outside walls at all, leaving only the hall itself burnt. Grumbling to herself, she headed back out into the foyer.

* * *

Dusk, meanwhile, had left the kitchen and was back in the foyer on the ground level. She could smell the smoke in the air from the burnt hallway and wrinkled her nose.

_Now I know why Charger came back for the washing machine and fan I guess_, Dusk thought. She then turned her attention to a door on the opposite side of the foyer from the burnt hall. _Well, best to start on that side of the building then. _Dusk crossed the foyer toward the other door, then opened it. What she saw inside left her frozen in shock and horror.

The ancient hallway dripped with blood. There was no source for this, the blood simply seemed to come from the walls themselves and pooled on the floor. An eerie red glow was cast throughout. The smell of death filled Dusk's nose and hideous laughter echoed throughout the hall. As soon as she was able to work up the nerve to move she immediately closed the door, then bent over and vomitted.

_Just what the hell was that!?_ Dusk wondered when she had finally recovered, wiping her mouth on her cloak. _Could those mutinous ghosts really pull off something like that?_

_Unlikely_, a voice said in her mind.

_Then what, _Dusk began, but her thoughts were soon interrupted.

"Eww! Now I feel like I'm going to be sick!" Dusk nearly froze when she heard another girl's voice and slowly turned her head. Without her noticing, Dawn had came back out into the foyer and Charger hovered nearby as well.

"You...you better forget you saw this!" Dusk yelled, angrily pointing a finger at her. "Don't think I'm so weak of fortitude to be brought to my knees by a mere illusion!"

"What are you talking about?" Dawn asked. She walked up to the door Dusk was standing next to, rather than waiting for Dusk's response. Trying her best to ignore, and avoid stepping in, Dusk's lunch, Dawn opened the door and looked inside. What she found, however, was an ordinary hallway. Red carpet that was probably pretty fancy ages ago, white walls with paint peeling, gold borders and old pictures lining the walls. Very old and worn looking, but ordinary nonetheless. Not even anything unusual with the eyes of the paintings.

"Ah...ok then..." Still holding the door open, Dawn looked over at Dusk and said, "So what DID happen then?"

"What do you mean!?" Dusk growled, pushing Dawn aside to look into the hallway herself. Dusk, too, saw nothing this time, and gritted her teeth in frustration. "Damn those ghosts..."

"What was that?" Dawn asked.

"Nothing, mind your own damn business," Dusk snapped. She entered the hallway, slamming the door closed behind her. Once the door was closed she looked around the hallway again for any sign of the illusion. There was still nothing happening, but Dusk could feel a chill go through her. "Tch, that the best you can do?" she said, taking a few tentative steps into the hall.

_Dusk, perhaps you should retreat for now. I sense a disturbing presence, one beyond even my own understanding._ Dusk grimaced and looked about the hall cautiously. If something there was disturbing even her voice of reason, she didn't want to mess with it.

_Yeah, maybe you're right. Perhaps I should have looked into this more before choosing this old chateau for a trap_, I can't leave Dawn in a place like this, Dusk thought, turning to leave the room. As she did she suddenly heard a loud cracking noise behind her followed by the feeling of something wrapping around her ankle. Before she could even look her leg was pulled back, sending her crashing face first into the floor. In a panic, she rolled onto her back so she could see what was going on.

What she saw was a large hole in the floor and a red glow illuminating the area around it. A long, tentacle-like arm ending in a human hand was extending out of the hole and had grabbed her by the ankle. The smell of death filled the air again and Dusk could hear many voices chanting, "Come to us!" over and over.

"NO! LET GO OF ME!" Dusk shrieked, kicking at the hand on her ankle. More sprung out of the hole in the floor, grabbing her by her other ankle and wrists and proceeding to drag her toward the hole. Dusk struggled against them, but to no avail. Their grip on her would not weaken. She slid across the floor, pulled by the strange hands.

"Come to us!" the voices cried out, louder this time, sounding as if there were over a hundred people calling out to her. They sounded familiar, yet alien. Friendly and yet hostile.

"NO!" Dusk shrieked, desparately trying to pull back, hands trying to grip the carpet. She had no idea what was in that hole, only knew she did not want to find out. She was mere inches away when she heard the door opening and everything suddenly stopped.

Dawn stepped into the hallway through the open door and looked around in disbelief. She could hear Dusk screaming, but there didn't seem to be anything wrong. Dusk herself was lying next to the hole, gasping for breath. "Huh...that wasn't here before, was it?" Dawn wondered aloud. She walked through the hall, the eyes of the pictures suddenly following her movements now, and stopped next to Dusk. When she looked in the hole, however, all she saw was the basement cellar below.

"Ah...this must be one of those things where something happens when someone's all alone, but then when someone else shows up everything is seemingly fine and the one who was by themselves just looks crazy when they try to explain it," Dawn said, nodding to herself.

_It stopped when Dawn showed up...I was saved by Dawn?_ Dusk thought, her body shaking from the experience. She couldn't even find the strength to move. _But...why? Why did it stop when she showed up?_

Concern yourself less with 'why' and more with getting out while you have the chance! a booming voice echoed through Dusk's mind, chasing the fear away almost instantly. Dusk quickly got up and grabbed Dawn by the hand.

"Dusk? What are you...hey!" Dawn suddenly found herself being roughly dragged back toward the door by Dusk.

"We're getting out of here! NOW!" Dusk yelled. As she fled, dragging Dawn with her, she could hear the menacing laughter as if it were taunting her.

* * *

"O-okay! This time! This time I'll do it!" Gardenia took several slow, jerky steps toward the chateau's front door, trying to work up the courage to go inside.

"Gardenia...are you sure you would not rather me go inside?" Cheryl asked her. Gardenia quickly shook her head.

"No! I'm a gym leader! This is my job!" Gardenia shot back. Only a few feet from the door, it suddenly flung open. Gardenia shrieked, expecting the worst when she saw the dark cloaked figure. Dusk came out first, still dragging Dawn behind her, and kept running until she was past the fence where she finally stopped and slumped over while trying to catch her breath.

"You're back." Cheryl said calmly, smiling at Dawn. "With a friend too."

"Umm...right...friend..." Dawn replied, blinking as she looked down at Dusk. Dusk was too winded to say anything.

"Oh...guess she's ok then! No need to tangle with any ghosts!" Gardenia said to herself, letting out a nervous laugh. As she turned toward the door again, though, Charger floated out while still possessing its washing machine. "KYAAA!" Gardenia shrieked and bolted, running past Dawn and Dusk. She then turned and ran toward Eterna City.

"Huh?" Dawn looked back toward the chateau to see what scared Gardenia and nearly fell over when she saw Charger floating up to them. "Oh, come on! That one isn't even remotely scary!"

Shall I handle the retrieval of Charger's special appliances? the voice asked Dusk. Dusk nodded slightly and slowly stood up.

_My sketchbook too,_ Dusk thought. _I have...never felt so helpless as I did back there. If it didn't stop when Dawn showed up..._

_We can discuss that later. I will be needing the orb._ Dusk nodded and reached into her cloak to retrieve the amber gem in question.

"Hey, what was that all about just now anyway?" Dawn asked Dusk as she turned around. "Weren't you the one trying to keep me from leaving?"

"That's none of your concern," Dusk said bitterly. "Don't think for a second that this changes anything between us. Next we meet there will be no such interruptions." Using the power contained in her gem, Dusk then opened a dark vortex beneath herself and fell through. Charger moved quickly to fly into it as well, after which it closed.

_Dusk...after that encounter with you and your pokemon, I finally know the truth about you._ Dawn thought, a knowing smirk crossing her lips. _You're the kind of villain that ends up joining the player's party before the end of the game, or makes a heroic sacrifice trying to help the hero in the final battle!_

"You two seem to know each other," Cheryl said to Dawn, her usually calm features looking quite perplexed for a change. "Perhaps, on the way to Eterna City, you could explain what just happened?"

"R-right..." Dawn replied hesitantly. _I'll try my best but...I don't even understand what happened in there!_

And so, after a brief detour, Dawn once again found herself travelling alongside Cheryl as they continued on their way toward Eterna City.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the chateau, a group of ghost pokemon had once again gathered in the front foyer after Dusk had been chased off.

"-Man! We finally did it! We scared her off!-" one of the ghastly said.

"-That'll teach her to bully us!-" one of the haunter said.

Another haunter turned to the first and said, "-Whoever did that demonic hall thing was one hell of a genius.-" Silence fell among the ghosts. None of them stepped forward to take credit.

"-Wait...you mean that wasn't us?-"

* * *

Author's Notes: A bit late with this one...but it's still Sunday at least.

So, bit of a look into Dusk's motives this chapter, though probably not enough to give anyone a clue what she's up to. And a look at who she is, aside from someone causing trouble for Dawn and wild pokemon everywhere.

Vespiquen, if it wasn't obvious, I'm taking a "queen bee" approach with. Namely, she sees Dawn as a rival of sorts now. Since Elincia's supposed to be queen, that means Dawn needs to be stung to death so she can replace her. Elincia is a Fire Emblem character for those whom the name might not be familiar. Really looking to spread out the nicknames to cover a wide variety of series/games.

As for that thing Dusk encountered...well, who knows? If I ever find a reason for someone to go back to the chateau I might delve into it more, and I do have ideas set aside, but at the moment it's more likely to be a one-shot type of thing. Why something like that would disappear when Dawn's around, though, is going to be an important plot point of sorts later.

Of course, all that being said, Rotom, aka Charger, was the real star of this chapter.


	9. Chapter 9: Eterna Conflict

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter Nine**

**Eterna Conflict**

At long last, Dawn had finally arrived in Eterna City. Between getting sidetracked in Floaroma, and a daunting trip through the Eterna Forest, the trip felt like it took forever for Dawn. Now, after her long journey from Twinleaf, Dawn found herself outside a familiar location. The pokemon center.

_Where WOULD I be without these things?_ Dawn thought wistfully as she stared off at the building ahead of her. Cheryl, who had accompanied her to Eterna City, was still with her as well.

"Using the pokemon center I see? I prefer all-natural solutions for healing my pokemon, personally," Cheryl said to Dawn, then turned to her and smiled. "Well, I suppose this is where we part ways. Feel free to drop by should you decide to try more herbal remedies for your pokemon."

"Err, yeah, I'll keep that in mind," Dawn replied, waving as Cheryl started to walk away. _I don't think I could subject my pokemon to that!_

"Oh!" Cheryl stopped and turned around. "I almost forget, say hello to your mother for me." Cheryl then once again continued on her way home.

"I will!" Dawn called back. It took a while for the implication to finally sink in. "Wait...how did..." Dawn shook her head and sighed. "Nevermind! I've got more important things to do! Like Mario Kart!" Dawn then turned around and headed into the pokemon center.

Once inside the pokemon center, Dawn turned over her belt of pokeballs to get them all healed. She then sat down in one of the chairs in the waiting area and pulled out her Nintendo DS, which already had her Mario Kart game loaded in. Two other trainers sat across from her, conversing while they waited. Dawn was too caught up in her game to pay attention, at least until the conversation hit somewhat familiar territory.

"By the way, I hear Gardenia came rushing back to the city in a panic earlier," one of the two trainers said.

"Again?" The other trainer snorted. "Everytime she goes out to that old house out there she just comes back running and screaming. I don't know why she even bothers anymore."

_That happens often? I guess I shouldn't be too surprised_, Dawn thought, looking up from her game briefly. The brief lack of attention was enough for her character to hit an obstacle, followed by a blow from a blue shell to knock her down several places. _Ah. The blue shell. My old nemesis. We meet again._

Dawn played her game for a little longer after that, until her pokemon were finally healed. Putting her DS away she retrieved her pokemon and then left the pokemon center, but stopped immediately outside to consider her next move.

"...Nothing to do now but head south I guess," she said to herself, rubbing the back of her head. "Boy, all that work just to get to Eterna City and I'm already going to leave. Almost feels like a waste." Dawn shrugged. "Oh well."

Dawn headed toward the southern end of the city, a trip that took her a fair bit of time walking on foot from the pokemon center. Eterna City wasn't nearly as big as some cities Dawn had been to, such as Jubilife, but a city was still a city. Which only served to make Dawn even more annoyed when she finally reached the southern gate.

"Sorry, miss, but you must have a bike to use the cycling road," a man in a blue uniform said to her inside the gatehouse.

"What?! You mean I can't go south from here without a bike!?" Dawn yelled in frustration. "Just what kind of lame obstacle is this? I don't want a bike!"

"With all do respect, miss, it would be easier to travel across the region by bike anyway," the guard said to her, his expression unchanging. "Furthermore, the bike shop is about a block away from here if you..." Before the guard could even finish, Dawn had already bolted out the door.

And so, from the southern gatehouse, Dawn ran a relatively short distance through the city. Passing several houses, she arrived at a quiet intersection. When she looked around from there, she spotted a nearby building down a street heading east with several bikes parked outside. Dawn headed straight toward the building and encountered her second disappointment, and a realization.

"I have to do another sidequest, don't I?" Dawn groaned from inside the empty bike shop. There were a few bikes on display, but there wasn't a soul to be seen in the store except for Dawn. "Ok then, I'll try challenging Gardenia. Maybe THAT will let me continue..."

Dawn turned and took a few steps toward the door, but she stopped before getting there and took several deep breaths. "All this running around Eterna City is exhausting...the gym better not be far from here!"

Fortunately for Dawn, it turned out that the gym wasn't very far away at all. Another block away and Dawn could see the gym down the road. Of greater interest to her, though, was the gym leader herself. Dawn had actually arrived in time to see Gardenia walking down the road in her direction.

"Gardenia!" Dawn called out as she ran up to her. Gardenia blinked in disbelief, recognizing Dawn from the forest.

"You're that girl from before, right?" Gardenia asked her, cringing slightly when she remembered what happened there.

"Right! My name's Dawn and I want to challenge you to a gym match!" Dawn declared, pointing a finger at her. "So your gym better still be open!"

"Oh, sorry, I'm busy right now actually." Gardenia replied sheepishly. "The bike shop's owner went into the Galactic building a while ago, you see, and hasn't come back yet. Rumor has it that they're keeping him there against his will, so as gym leader it's my duty to look into it."

"Wait, hold, up, time out!" Dawn said, holding her hands in the shape of a 'T'. "You mean to tell me Team Galactic has their own headquarters here?"

"Well...yes." Gardenia blinked. "Why? Is there a problem with that?"

Dawn remined silent for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh, shoulders drooping. "No, forget about it..." Straightening up, Dawn gave Gardenia a determined look and said, "But if that's the case then please let me go with you!"

"Absolutely not," Gardenia replied flatly.

_Oh no, I won't be locked out of this quest that easily! I have to get to Hearthome!_ Dawn thought, narrowing her eyes and clenching her fists in raw determination. _Okay, Gardenia, you leave me no choice._

"You know, it'd be pretty bad if the pokemon league found out about what really happened back there in Eterna Forest," Dawn said to Gardenia. Gardenia suddenly started to look very nervous, so Dawn could tell she had her where she wanted her. Even so, she decided to pile on a bit more weight. "Also, who's to say I didn't catch a ghost pokemon while I was in there?"

"YOU'VE MADE YOUR POINT!" Gardenia shrieked. She took several deep breaths and then said, "Fine! You win! You can come with me if it's that important to you!"

"I knew you'd see things my way." Dawn said with a grin. "So, where is the Galactic Building anyway?"

"On the northern edge of town," Gardenia replied. Dawn suddenly felt her motivation to complete this sidequest deteriorating.

* * *

By the time Dawn and Gardenia were anywhere near the Galactic Building, Dawn could barely keep up. After walking through Eterna Forest and then travelling across the city twice, she was starting to feel pretty exhausted. A lot of time had passed since then as well. The sun was starting to set while they were still a short distance away.

Dawn stopped to take a good look at the building in the distance. It was fairly ordinary looking for the most part. Dark blue color, windows everywhere. Looked like a fairly typical office building, with the exception of three large spikes jutting out from the sides of the building near the top. Seeing the spikes, Dawn gave Gardenia a questioning look.

"Gardenia...you really didn't see anything wrong with that?" Dawn asked her, pointing at the building in the distance. Gardenia looked at the building for a moment, then turned to Dawn and shrugged.

"The decor is a bit...odd I guess," Gardenia admitted. "Still, they're just fellow environmentalists. I mean, you've seen their commercials, right?"

_'Fellow' environmentalists?_ Dawn blinked and looked over Gardenia's choice of clothing, getting a curious look from the gym leader as she did. _Come to think of it...it'd be easy to mistake her for a kinda fantasy-ish forest ranger or something. But maybe that's just me._ Looking at the building again, Dawn shook her head. _Still, she managed to completely ignore the spikes of villainy up there._

"I don't know what you're thinking but if you're going to go in with me then pick up the pace," Gardenia said, folding her arms in front of her.

"What's the hurry, ladies?"

Dawn and Gardenia looked in the direction of the voice they heard to see a wooden stand, not unlike the kind that a young child would set up to sell drinks from. Only, instead of drinks, a sign over the top advertised that the young man sitting behind it would teach techniques with negotiable prices.

The young man sitting behind the stand, one arm draped behind the wooden chair he sat in, looked to be only slightly older than Dawn. The boy's hair was jet black, almost unnaturally so. Combined with his sunglasses it was obvious he was going for the 'cool' look. The rest of his clothing consisted of a white shirt and blue jeans that were torn at the knees.

"Perhaps I could interest you two in some...lessons?" The boy said to them, flashing a grin.

Pokemon techniques. Those are like spells, only for pokemon instead of wizards, Dawn thought. Buying techniques would be like buying spells, therefore... Dawn raised her hand to ask about the 'negotiable prices' advertised on the sign, but Gardenia spoke up first.

"I already told you I wasn't interested in any of your techniques, Marcus!" Gardenia snapped.

"Which techniques were those again?" Marcus replied, leaning forward in his chair and winking at her from behind his glasses. "'Cause I can sure think of a few techniques I'd like to show you."

"And THAT's why I'm not interested!" Gardenia shot back. "For a kid, you're a complete PERVERT!"

Marcus shrugged. "I can't help it if..."

"So what techniques can you teach pokemon exactly?" Dawn asked, interrupting the would-be argument. Marcus blinked in confusion. Dawn was standing directly in front of the stand now, but he was so focused on Gardenia that he didn't notice.

"Tch. What kind of guy do you take me for?" Marcus said off-handedly. Reaching below the stand, he took out a piece of paper and handed it to Dawn. "There's a list of techniques I can teach, and what I'll charge for 'em."

Dawn picked up the list and looked over the techniques. To her dismay, she had no idea what many of the techniques did. Nor did she know what pokemon of her's would be able to learn any of them. To make matters worse, she didn't have any 'shards' nor did she know what they were. According to the list, though, shards were what Marcus took for currency.

"You're wasting your time, Dawn, there's nothing he can teach you that you wouldn't be better off learning on your own," Gardenia said to her.

"Oh yeah?" Marcus frowned and folded his arms. "I'll have you know, I come from a long line of move tutors. If my ability to teach new techniques to pokemon is called into question then I'll gladly rise to the challenge." Having said that, Marcus then turned his attention to Dawn. "Yo, what pokemon are you looking to have learn a new technique?"

Thinking for a moment, Dawn took a pokeball from her belt and then released Bowser in front of the stand. Marcus had to lean over to get a look at him. "Could you teach Bowser here a new technique? He's easily my most reliable pokemon."

_I'm her most reliable pokemon, huh?_ Bowser thought, beaming. _Cool!_

"A turtwig huh? Slow, largely immobile on the battlefield. Could definitely do with a decent ranged attack." Marcus grinned and stroked his chin. "Heh. Alright, what do you say I teach this little guy the Seed Bomb technique, free of charge?"

"That...that'd be great!" Dawn replied, grinning widely. She had no idea what Seed Bomb did, but it certainly sounded like a good technique for Bowser to learn. _Wow! Gardenia says he's a pervert, but he seems like such a nice, smart guy...and he hasn't hit on me either, come to think of it._

_ Aren't all my attacks ranged?_ Bowser thought, blinking. _Still, having another couldn't hurt, right?_

"Alright, give me some time and I'll teach it Seed Bomb. I doubt you'd want to stand around and wait, though," Marcus said to Dawn. "Teaching a grass-type move to a grass pokemon shouldn't take too long, but give me at least an hour."

"That's fine, I had plans anyway," Dawn said with a grin and glanced back toward Gardenia. Gardenia just frowned and said nothing.

"Alright. You ladies have fun then and," Marcus winked at Gardenia. "See you later, babe."

"Not likely," Gardenia growled. She grabbed Dawn by the hand and then dragged her off, continuing north toward the Galactic Building. They didn't stop until they were almost to the building's main entrance, at which point Gardenia stopped and turned around to face Dawn with a stern look on her face.

"You need to be more careful! A young girl your age shouldn't be getting anywhere perverts like him. Especially dressed like..." Gardenia gestured to Dawn's jacket. "Like that!"

"He didn't seem that much older than me though. Or that interested," Dawn replied.

"That's not the point!" Gardenia countered. "Look, you just seem to keep letting your guard down and that's going to end up getting you in trouble, if it hasn't already."

_But I've been doing fine so far_, Dawn thought, blinking. _I even made it through that haunted house ok..._

"Anyway, if you're coming inside with me, you need to keep your guard up for sure. There's no telling what they might really be up to." Dawn nodded to Gardenia in agreement and then followed along behind her. Gardenia opened the front door of the building and walked inside.

The inside of the building, or at least the first floor, was not what Dawn had been expecting at all. Much like the outside, it looked like a fairly ordinary business lobby. Some people were going about carrying stacks of paper, others were talking near a water cooler. There was even a front desk and receptionist. The only thing that really stuck out was the uniforms, as each and every one of them looked like the grunts Dawn had encountered. In fact, as she approached the front desk with Gardenia, she could feel many sets of eyes on her.

_I bet some of these guys recognize me from the Valley Windworks_, Dawn thought then grinned wryly. _Too bad I can't tell them apart or I'd know for sure!_

Gardenia walked up to the front desk and slammed her hands down on top of it. "Excuse me! I'd like to speak to the one in charge, here!" she asked the female receptionist.

"Th-the one in charge?" the receptionist repeated, swallowing nervously. "That...that would be Commander Jupiter, she's on the top floor. The stairs are that way." The receptionist gestured toward her left.

Gardenia nodded and then turned to Dawn. "Ok, let's go. We're going to the top!" Dawn nodded and the two of them moved toward the stairs, only to find a divider and two sets of stairs. Before she could ask which one lead to the top floor, a grunt leaning against the divider jerked his thumb toward the stairs on the right.

"Oh! Thanks!" Gardenia said to him. Gardenia continued toward the stairs, but Dawn hesitated for a moment. The grunt in question actually seemed familiar to her. Her suspicions were confirmed when he winked at her. Deciding not to ask questions, she caught up with Gardenia and continued on her way.

Meanwhile, once she confirmed that Dawn and Gardenia were gone, the receptionist picked up her phone and quickly punched in a few numbers. "Commander Jupiter? I'm afraid we have company, mam..."

* * *

Dawn and Gardenia found themselves going up one set of stairs after another. It was to be expected, of course. The Galactic Building was fairly tall, afterall. Along the way, Dawn asked a few questions and found out that Team Galactic had, supposedly, set up their base of operations in Eterna City due to how close to nature the city was. As they were nearing the top, it was Gardenia's turn to ask Dawn a question.

"So what made you decide to come with me after I turned down a gym match?" Gardenia asked Dawn as they began to ascend another flight of stairs, the last one leading up to the top floor.

"I...guess you could say I'm still achieving the same thing this way," Dawn replied.

_That doesn't make any sense no matter how I try to think about it_, Gardenia thought. _This girl's mind must run on her own bizarre brand of logic..._

The two then reached the top and found themselves in an area that truly stuck out compared to the previous floors. Every floor after the first almost seemed more like a warehouse than an office building. The top floor, however, seemed more like an observatory. Strange equipment and large computers could be seen lining the halls, but what really set it apart was the decor. The wallpaper was in the design of a night sky.

"You know, I think they go a little bit overboard with the whole space theme," Dawn said, nodding to herself.

"This place, overall, could really just use some potted plants," Gardenia said in agreement. "Anyway, their leader should be up here somewhere. If we're lucky we'll get through this without any problems."

Dawn and Gardenia walked down a hall that lead away from the stairs and were nearing the corner when three female grunts suddenly came around the corner to block their path. Frowning, Dawn then looked back to see two male grunts and a lone scientist coming up the stairs to cut them off from behind. Six enemies in total, completely boxing them in.

"Sorry, but we can't allow you girls to go any further than this," the scientist said smugly. "We have you surrounded now. Why don't you two just give up and make it easier on yourselves?"

"An ambush," Gardenia muttered. "Of course. Because you they couldn't take a gym leader in a straight-up fight."

_Even with this many I doubt they could_, Dawn thought, taking a pair of pokeballs from her belt. Gardenia likewise drew a pokeball, having no intention of surrendering to a handful of grunts.

"Conker! Captain Falcon! Go!" Dawn called out, releasing the two pokemon to protect her. The two grunts and the scientist facing her released their own pokemon, the scientist sending out a kadabra, one of the grunts sending out a purple fighting frog called croagunk, and the other a zubat. Conker grinned, psyching himself up for battle, while Captain Falcon immediately searched for a potential escape route to take during the fight. To her dismay, she found none.

"Roserade! Time to fight!" Gardenia called out as she released her own pokemon. A large rose pokemon with white hair appeared, kneeling with her arms crossed in front of her. It was soon confronted by a pair of glameow and a stunky, released by the opposing female grunts.

"-This shan't take long.-" Gardenia's roserade said confidently.

Gardenia was the first to make a move, calling out her attack just as the grunts had released their pokemon. "Roserade, let's finish this in one move! Leaf Storm!" Roserade quickly stood up, then jumped into the air while spinning like a twister. A storm of leaves were released from her body, enveloping the opposing pokemon and only narrowly avoiding the grunts themselves. The leaves were fired at an angle and hit the floor mere inches from the grunts' feet. The leaves kept coming until the roserade stopped spinning and dropped to the floor. All three of the opposing pokemon were left unconscious in a pile of leaves, including the stunky which would have been resistant to the attack.

"-No one can withstand my Leaf Storm.-" Roserade said triumphantly. The three nervous grunts quickly recalled their pokemon and took off, releazing they were sorely outmatched against the gym leader's pokemon.

"Yeah! And that's what you get for messing with me and my grass pokemon!" Gardenia called out after them, pumping her fist into the air.

Dawn, meanwhile, wasn't having much trouble either. "Conker, attack zubat with Spark! Captain Falcon, attack the weird frog thing with Wing Attack!" Dawn's two pokemon made the first move as well. Captain Falcon took off and flew toward the croagunk, which was ready to strike with poison-tipped hands. It thrust its hand forward, but Captain Falcon ducked under it to strike the pokemon with her wing. The croagunk grunted in pain and fell to the ground. The zubat didn't get even that much of a chance to fight back as Conker tackled it to the ground while charged with electricity, knocking it out instantly.

"Damn it! I would have expected this from the gym leader!" the croagunk's owner said as he recalled it. The other grunt did likewise with his zubat and took off as well.

"Then I guess it will be just me and you now, girl," the scientist with the kadabra said.

"I'm still here with Gardenia you..." Dawn looked over her shoulder, expecting to see Gardenia behind her. The gym leader had already continued on ahead, though, after seeing that Dawn could handle the grunts herself. "...nevermind."

"Kadabra, attack her staravia with Confusion!" the scientist commanded his pokemon. The kadabra's eyes flashed and Captain Falcon was suddenly flung back hard, narrowly missing Dawn and then crashing into the floor. The surprisingly strong blow left her briefly winded.

This guy is stronger than the grunts. An elite encounter? Dawn thought.

"Heh..." the scientist pushed up his glasses. "While you were busy fighting the grunts, I had my kadabra powering up with Calm Mind!"

"Oh yeah? Conker, hit it with a Spark attack!" Conker nodded and channeled electricity around his body again, preparing to attack.

"Not so fast." The scientist grinned. "Kadabra, Teleport!" Conker lunged toward kadabra, but the psychic pokemon suddenly vanished before he could land the attack. Conker hit the floor but quickly got up and looked around in confusion until it spotted it reappearing near Captain Falcon. Captain Falcon was just getting back on her feet.

_Wish I could do that. Would make my life so much easier_, Captain Falcon thought, grimacing.

_I get it now. If the grunts could be considered the lowly frontline warriors, this guy must be the spellcaster_, Dawn thought. _And if he's the spellcaster, that means..._

"Captain Falcon, Quick Attack!" Dawn called out, looking back over her shoulder. Captain Falcon quickly flapped her wings to get up and then shot into kadabra in a blur of movement, moving too fast for the psychic pokemon to follow. The kadabra was smashed into the wall by the attack and then crumpled to the floor. It wasn't knocked out, but the attack had definitely knocked the wind out of it and left it briefly stunned.

"Conker, now's your chance! Spark!" Conker quickly ran past Dawn, electricity surging from his cheeks to surround him. He tackled the fallen kadabra, delivering the final blow. The kadabra grunted and fell over onto its side. "Just like I thought. Physically frail." Dawn then said.

"Damn it!" the scientist growled, recalling his kadabra. "Don't get smug just because you beat me! Commander Jupiter will put you in your place for sure!" The scientist then ran off, heading back down the stairs.

"And ambush foiled!" Dawn said triumphantly. "Now to catch up with Gardenia." Dawn nodded to her pokemon as she turned to face them, holding a pokeball in each hand. "Let's go, you two!" She recalled them and clipped the pokeballs to her belt, then ran down the hall to catch up with Gardenia.

Dawn turned down the corner and down another hall until she came across an opening. Hearing voices inside, she decided to stop next to it to listen. She could hear flames and a female voice calling out attacks. Realizing it was a battle, and worried she was missing out, she peeked inside. There, she saw Gardenia and her roserade fighting a rather large skunk pokemon. It was a onesided battle, with roserade barely putting up any resistance.

_No way! Gardenia can't be losing that easily to one of these guys!_ Dawn thought in disbelief. Upon further inspection, though, she soon saw the cause. Hovering just over the scene of the battle was a ghastly. She could also see a shop keeper in a blue uniform off to the left side of the room, trying to keep his distance, and a caged clefairy on the other side. Standing across from Gardenia was a purple-haired woman wearing a spaceman-like suit, typical for Team Galactic.

"As you can see, Gardenia, I've prepared for your inevitable interference in my plans," the purple-haired woman said to her. "This ghastly may be weak, but that hardly matters when its keeping you from fighting at your best." As she said this, the skunk pokemon evaded an extended pair of vines from Gardenia's roserade and blasted back with intensely hot flames. Gardenia was too scared to think straight and was letting her pokemon battle on its own, but it was losing as a result.

_Of course, come to think of it, it's only natural that I am supposed to show up at the critical moment to turn the tide_, Dawn thought with a smirk, reaching down to take a pokeball from her belt. _This might be a good chance to try using Bridget, too! Bridget doesn't like me, but I bet he'll fight if someone else is in danger!_

Dawn stepped out into the open and held out the pokeball she grabbed. "Bridget! Go!" The pokeball opened and fired a red beam into the room, materializing into a rather pissed-off-looking buneary. Bridget realized the situation almost immediately when he saw the battle going on.

"-Tch. Forcing my hand like this.-" Bridget turned to Dawn and shot her a glare. "-Don't think for a moment that I'm going to forget about this.-"

Realizing Dawn had finally arrived, Gardenia looked back over her shoulder at her and frantically yelled, "IT'S ABOUT TIME! DO SOMETHING ALREADY!"

"Hmph. So the grunts can't even deal with a mere girl?" the purple-haired woman grumbled. "Then I suppose I, Commander Jupiter, will have to put you both in your place. You'll regret challenging me with such a girly pokemon." she reached for another pokeball while looking toward Bridget, but stopped when she realized Bridget wasn't there anymore. "Where did it...?"

"-Don't-you-dare-mistake-me-for-a-girl-KICK!-" Bridget yelled, flying through the air to deliver a Jump Kick attack on the ghastly.

"-That won't do anything to-OOF!-" the ghastly was cut off as Bridget's foot suddenly struck it in the jaw. Even though it still resisted the attack, the ghastly was far too frail to resist even a single kick from Bridget. It was knocked out instantly and its light body slowly floated toward the floor while Bridget dropped straight down to land next to Jupiter's skuntank. His ears were already coiled, ready to attack.

"Didn't see that coming," Jupiter grumbled. "Skuntank, quick! Use-"

"-Don't-even-think-about-messing-with-me-now-PUNCH!-" Bridget turned toward skuntank, lowering his head and thrusting his ears into the skuntank's face with a Frustration attack. The force of the attack sent the skuntank flying back through the air, flipping around and landing on its back. It bounced once, flipping over again before hitting the far wall. For a moment it seemed like it was down and out, but then started to slowly get back up again.

I didn't account for some random trainer being able to put up this much of a fight! Jupiter thought to herself. Time to make a tactical retreat.

"Skuntank, smokescreen." Jupiter commanded. Skuntank complied, releasing a thick, black smoke from the tip of its tail. The smoke filled the room, clouding everyone's vision long enough for Jupiter to make her escape. When the smoke dispersed, she, her skuntank, and the ghastly were gone.

"Damn it, I wanted to bring her in!" Gardenia grumbled, letting out a sigh, then turned to Dawn again. "Dawn...you've surprised me. I think you could have handled this without me. Now I understand how you managed to get this far..."

_Well, I DID fight these guys already_, Dawn thought, smiling to herself as she entered the room. _Still, for a boss, that one was pretty disappointing compared to Mars. I must have been overleveled for this encounter thanks to the sidequest in Eterna Forest._

"-Hmph.-" Gardenia's roserade shook her head and turned to Bridget. "-Don't get any ideas. I softened that thing up for you.-"

"-And I finished it.-" Bridget replied smugly just before being suddenly recalled by Dawn. Dawn didn't say anything, knowing full well that Bridget probably wouldn't care.

With the battle over and Jupiter gone, the man in the business suit ran across the room to his clefairy and opened the cage. "Clefairy! You're safe!" The pokemon cried out happily and jumped into the man's arms. Craddling his clefairy, he turned to Gardenia and Dawn. "Miss Gardenia, thank you! Those criminals were trying to force me to hand over my clefairy to them, saying something about it being from space..."

"I don't get the reasoning. In any case, it's not me you should be thanking," Gardenia said, then gestured toward Dawn. "If it wasn't for her, we'd both have needed to be rescued."

"Oh, I was just doing what any good trainer would have done!" Dawn said, trying to pass it off as if it were no big deal.

"I need to thank you in some way, miss!" the bike shop owner said to her. "I know! How about I give you a free bike?"

Dawn grinned. "Do they come in pink?"

* * *

When they headed back down through the Galactic Building, Dawn and Gardenia discovered that the rest of Team Galactic had left as well. Jupiter had managed to get past them when she made her mistake and alerted the rest of Team Galactic to evacuate the building, leaving it completely deserted. When they got outside, the bike shop owner left. It was getting late, so Dawn had decided she would pick up her bike in the morning.

"Well that was an unexpected adventure!" Gardenia said once it was just her and Dawn. "Up until that ambush, I was still thinking it would just be an investigation..."

_Still not going to bring up the spikes_, Dawn thought, glancing up toward the top of the building.

"Well, well, what's going on here, now?" Dawn and Gardenia blinked when they heard another woman's voice and Gardenia nearly froze. Slowly turning around, she saw a woman with long, blonde hair and a black dress standing barely a dozen feet away from her.

"C-cynthia!? What are you doing here!?" Gardenia nearly shrieked.

"Oh, you know me. I go wherever I want," Cynthia replied, smiling and resting a hand on her hip. "And it seems I just missed something interesting. Speaking of which, I hope you have a good reason for getting a civilian trainer involved." Cynthia then slowly approached Dawn and leaned over so she was face to face with her. "And might I ask your name, young lady?"

"Oh, um, me?" Dawn said, gulping nervously. Even Dawn, who spent most of her childhood doing nothing but playing video games, knew exactly who was speaking to her. "I'm uh...I'm Dawn...I'm kinda one of Professor Rowan's research assistants actually..."

"Oh?" Cynthia blinked in disbelief and then smiled at her. Even Gardenia looked shocked to hear that. "That changes everything then. When a professor like Rowan entrusts someone with a pokemon and pokedex, it's a big undertaking. You must truly be a talented trainer."

"Really?" Dawn blinked. "I didn't think it was that special..."

"Oh, definitely!" Gardenia said excitedly. "Some of the strongest trainers in the world have been research assistants! Like Ashley, Red, and Gary from Kanto whom all beat their region's Elite Four at one point. And May, from Hoenn! She's only ten and she beat a legendary pokemon in a tournament before becoming that region's champion! And the legendary pokemon was owned by another assistant named Melany! And...umm..." Gardenia glanced at Cynthia again.

"I think that's enough names, don't you?" Cynthia replied with a wink and straightened up. "In any case... Dawn, were you planning to stay in Eterna City tonight?"

"Well it is a bit late for me to leave now," Dawn replied.

"In that case, I would like to see you before you leave tomorrow. I have something that may be of some help to you." Cynthia said to her, then turned to address Gardenia. "As for what happened here, the league will require a full report of course. Judging by the way Team Galactic took off from here, I'm guessing they were up to something?"

"Just seems like a case of pokemon theft to me, though their motive for it sounded strange," Gardenia replied. Nodding to Cynthia, she added, "I'll have that report ready though."

"Excellent. I'm curious about it myself now as well." Cynthia glanced over at Dawn again as she spoke. Dawn looked at Cynthia curiously, wondering what she was thinking.

"CYNTHIA!" a male voice suddenly cried out. Cynthia rolled her eyes and stepped back, avoiding a tackle from Marcus. Instead, he was sent crashing to the ground in front of her.

"And with that, I'll be taking my leave for now." Cynthia said, then offered Dawn a light smile. "I look forward to seeing you again, Dawn. Take care." Cynthia then started off south through the city while Marcus got back up and adjusted his glasses. Stroking his chin, he looked at Cynthia, and then at Dawn.

"You know, I'm all for girl-on-girl, but you're a bit young," he said to Dawn. Dawn blinked in confusion.

"I think it's time I left as well." Gardenia said bitterly. She walked past Dawn, stopping for a moment to pat her on the shoulder and say, "I hope I'll be seeing you again, too!" Gardenia then kept going but only got a few feet away before Marcus yelled at her.

"HEY! Not so fast! I haven't shown you her turtwig's new move yet!" Gardenia stopped and let out a sigh, then turned to face him.

"Alright, let's see it then..."

* * *

Marcus lead the two girls outside town, where Bowser was training alongside a large bear pokemon. When they arrived, they saw the ursaring spit a few large seeds at the ground over a dozen feet away. The seeds were fired and exploded when they hit, leaving a small crater. There were already several in the area from their training. Bowser followed suit, mimicking the attack perfectly but firing more seeds than the ursaring did. The seeds hit with noticeably less force, though, and caused a smaller explosion.

"-Alright, I think I'm really getting the hang of this now.-" Bowser said, looking quite pleased with himself. The ursaring growled but said nothing. It was merely following orders.

"Alright! That's enough training you two!" Marcus called out to them. The two pokemon turned around to face their trainers while Marcus looked at Dawn and Gardenia expectantly. "Well? What do you two think?"

"Wow! That's a pretty good attack, Bowser!" Dawn said enthusiastically. "I can't wait to get the chance to try it out."

"I guess it's better than I thought," Gardenia mumbled. "Can I go now? Actually, nevermind, I'm going." Gardenia then left without another word, heading back into the city.

"Fine by me, I've got to get a room for the night anyway." Marcus turned to his pokemon, taking a purple and white pokeball with an 'M' on it from his belt. "Alright, Ursaring, that's it for today. Let's go," he said, then recalled his pokemon and trailed behind Gardenia as he headed back into the city. "You better make good use of that technique since this is a freebie!" he called back as he walked away.

_Glad hotels aren't anything like inns, or else Marcus would end up taking the only room!_ Dawn thought, smiling wryly while taking a pokeball in hand as well. "Bowser, we can try out that technique sometime tomorrow. I need to find somewhere to stay too." Bowser nodded in agreement and Dawn recalled him. She then followed Gardenia and Marcus back into Eterna City where she would spend the night. Little did she know, someone was going to make sure she had ample reason to try out Bowser's Seed Bomb attack...

* * *

Author's Notes: For anyone wondering, Buneary learns foresight at a pretty low level. Which is why Bridget's Jump Kick managed to hit the Ghastly.

Ended up being later still this week, now about 40 minutes into Monday my time. Oh well. Still Sunday somewhere! Like, say, Eastern US. Where most internet-folks seem to log in from anyway. Here's hoping I'll be back on track next week when Dawn takes up another sidequest!

Title, by the way, is supposed to be a play on "Eternal Conflict". Probably pretty obvious, really...


	10. Chapter 10: Going Under

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 10**

**Going Under**

Exiting the front door of the hotel, Dawn looked around cautiously. She had eaten breakfast in the hotel restaurant that morning, or had planned to at least but had spotted her old arch-nemesis there. She was sure he didn't see her when she briefly retreated to her room to eat, and she didn't encounter him on the way out again either. Still, she was going to remain cautious. The coast seemed to be clear so Dawn finally decided to step outside.

"Phew! Managed to make it out without running into..."

"DAWN!" Dawn froze and shuddered when she heard the voice. She had been so careful, scanning outside the front door before she left, but never thought he might still be inside. Barry had managed to come up from behind her and had a wide grin on his face when she turned around to face him.

"Heh heh heh! You tried to escape, didn't you?" Barry asked her with a smug grin on his face.

_'Tried' being the operative word!_ Dawn thought bitterly, grinding her teeth together. "What do you want, Barry?"

"Hey now! Is that any way to treat a friend?" he asked, still wearing a smug grin. Dawn's attitude didn't put him off at all. "So, hey! Have you seen that statue in the northern end of the city?"

"Statue?" Dawn repeated, blinking. "Barry...why would you be interested in a statue?"

"Because it's a really cool statue of a really cool pokemon!" Barry replied, then quickly grabbed Dawn by the wrist. "Come on, let's go! You have to see it!" Barry pulled her by the wrist, dragging her off to see the statue. Dawn let out a sigh and didn't even bother trying to resist. By now, she realized the futility of it.

* * *

A short while later, being dragged through the city the entire way, Dawn found herself face to face with the statue in question. It looked like some sort of centauric creature, lower body like that of a horse with metal plates and spikes. The upper torso didn't really seem to fit at all, though. It bore large, circular shoulders, clawed hands, and an elongated neck.

"Barry...this statue is not cool no matter what way you look at it," Dawn said in dismay. "It just looks like some kind of weird...thing."

"Exactly! That's what makes it cool!" Barry replied excitedly. "It's got the lower body of one pokemon and the upper body of another! I bet they used to be separate pokemon but were fused together somehow! Like with some kinda dance or something!"

Dawn rolled her eyes. _Only you, Barry. Only you..._

"Excuse me. Please step aside." Dawn and Barry turned around and then immediately stepped out of the way when they saw the imposing, blue-haired man standing behind them. The man walked past them to take a closer look at the statue.

After examining the man's outfit for a moment, and taking a look at the statue again, Dawn nodded. _Yep. My foreshadowing senses are tingling._

"This statue depicts the beings of time and space as one. A symbolic representation of the balance between them, no doubt," the man mumbled, furrowing his eyebrows as he studied the structure.

"Eh. I don't get this guy at all," Barry said. Shrugging, he turned to Dawn and said, "Oh well. I just wanted to show you that statue. I don't have time to waste around here, there's badges to be had!" Barry pumped his fist into the air and said, "I'm going to be the best trainer there is and don't you forget it!"

"You'll probably remind me plenty anyway," Dawn said, rolling her eyes.

"Catch ya later then!" Barry said to her before finally running off. Dawn watched him for a moment before she caught a glimpse of the strange man out of he corner of her eye. He also seemed to have his gaze focused intently on Barry, briefly turning to Dawn when he realized she was looking at him and then looking back at the statue.

_Weirdo too. Figures_, Dawn thought and then shook her head. _Whatever! I have a bike to get, and then I have to find Cynthia to get whatever it was she was going to give me!_

Dawn then ran off as well. The strange man watched as she left, face devoid of any emotion.

* * *

It was a fairly long run for Dawn to get to the southern end of the city where the bike shop was. It was early morning, though, so Dawn still had energy to spare by the time she got there. To her surprise, she found someone else waiting outside the bike shop as well. Cynthia was leaning near the building, next to the entrance. Dawn wondered if Cynthia was waiting for her. Her suspicions were confirmed when the blonde-haired woman spotted her and then pushed off from the wall and approached Dawn.

"I had a feeling you might show up here," Cynthia said to her. "I was talking to Gardenia and she mentioned that Mr. Rickshaw wanted to give you a bike as thanks."

"You know, we probably should have made arrangements to meet somewhere," Dawn said, rubbing the back of her neck in embarassment.

Cynthia chuckled. "You're probably right. But it worked out regardless." Cynthia then removed what looked like a backpack from her body and placed it on the ground. "This is what I wanted you to have," she says as she opens the top of the backpack, revealing a white egg with many different color designs and patterns all around it.

"A pokemon egg?" Dawn asked, blinking in disbelief. It made sense after she had a moment to think about it, though, as she recalled Cynthia specifically saying it would help her with her pokedex. Adding a page for whatever pokemon hatched from it would help, naturally.

"Yes, and one of my own pokemon is the father," Cynthia said to her, then closed the backpack again. "You should take the backpack as well so it will be easier to carry around, unless you have room in your travel bag?"

_That egg looks like it's about the same size as that jar of honey, actually,_ Dawn thought, frowning slightly. _Ok, which do I want more? Pokemon egg or sweet honey? On one hand, I could use another pokemon, and one hatched from an egg would actually be loyal rather than trying to kill me or hating me. On the other hand I_... Dawn blinked. _Wait, I don't actually have any use for that sweet honey. So this must be some kind of flag to trade it off._

"I might have room...do you have any use for sweet honey?" Dawn asked Cynthia.

"Umm..." Cynthia blinked in confusion and said, "Not really, but why don't you just keep it and take the backpack?"

"K-keep it!?" Dawn staggered back in shock. _But...but I don't get it! Shouldn't this have been a flag to trade my sweet honey for the pokemon egg? It was leading up to it so perfectly but..._

Seeing Dawn's strange reaction, Cynthia raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't understand what you are getting so upset over, but if it means that much to you then I will take the sweet honey..."

"Oh...oh, alright..." Dawn turned her back to Cynthia while she opened her bag to retrieve the honey, hiding a smile from her. She had started to actually doubt her perception of the world for a moment, but everything had been set right again. After retrieving the honey, Dawn turned around again and handed the jar to Cynthia.

_That's a pretty big jar, I wonder what she was lugging that around for?_ Cynthia thought as she took the jar of honey from Dawn. She set the jar down on the ground while she took the pokemon egg out of the backpack and handed it to Dawn. Once the backpack was empty, Cynthia put the jar of honey inside. _Maybe the herb shop around here would have a use for it?_

Upon receiving the egg, Dawn held it up to her ear. She couldn't hear anything, though. "So...what's going to hatch from this anyway?" she asked Cynthia.

Cynthia winked. "You'll just have to wait and see." Cynthia then picked up the backpack and slung it around her shoulders. "Perhaps the next time we meet it will already have hatched. Until then, farewell Dawn." Cynthia offered a soft smile as she walked past Dawn and then headed north into the city.

"Well! That leaves only one thing left to do before I can leave!" Dawn opened her travel bag and placed the egg inside, then headed into the bike shop. The shop's owner, Rad Rickshaw, was at the desk when she went inside and a pink bike set aside next to it.

"Ah! You're here bright and early!" Rad said, smiling, then gestured toward the bike. "You wanted a pink one, right?" Dawn's eyes widened when she saw the bike. She was expecting a fairly cheap, basic bike since she was getting it for free. The bike he had brought out for her, though, had different gears to allow greater control over one's speed.

Dawn grinned to herself. _Now THIS is how you reward a hero!_

* * *

"YAHOO!" Dawn yelled excitedly, racing down cycling road. Another biker only narrowly avoided getting plowed through by her as she barreled down the road at a breakneck pace.

"Wow! At this rate, I'll reach the end of cycling road in no time! WOO-HOO!" At Dawn's excited yelling, several more bikers further down moved out of her way. They were all looking at Dawn like she was insane, but Dawn was paying no attention to them as she sped past. "There's nothing that can stop me now!"

Of course, of all people, Dawn should realize the implication of saying such a thing. Further down, flying alone above the cycling road was a lone gligar. It was flying along fine at first, riding the air currents, but then suddenly started to have trouble. It wobbled in the air, trying to remain steady, until it started to drop out of the air on a direct collision course with Dawn, clawed hands flailing frantically to try to stay in the air.

Dawn did not see the gligar coming. The wild pokemon plowed into her from the side and she let out a shriek as the impact steered her toward the guard rail. As if her statement had somehow placed some kind of curse upon her, the situation got even worse from there as the section of the rail that she hit was already weakened. Dawn and her bike broke through it and plummeted to the ground below while the wild gligar safely glided away, breathing a sigh of relief and continuing on its way.

Luckily for Dawn, the section she fell off at was above a slight hill and made for a relatively short fall. It still hurt like hell and knocked the wind out of her, leaving her with little motivation to move for a while after landing, but managed to get by with just scraped knees. After a minute she groaned and sat up to survey her surroundings.

"What just...hit me?" she muttered, looking around half-dazed and rubbing her head. Her bike had landed a few feet behind her and her travel bag was lying next to her. She gasped when she remembered her recently received package and immediately opened the bag to check on it. To her relief the egg, and everything else in her bag, was perfectly fine.

"Wow, that egg must be pretty durable," Dawn said in disbelief, then looked up at the road she fell from. "Guess I should be careful from now on. I think I used up all my good and bad luck in the same fall..."

"Excuse me, miss?" Dawn blinked, surprised to hear someone's voice down below the cycling path. When she turned to the source of the voice she saw a fat man dressed in hiking gear. "You uh...you aren't Dawn by any chance, are you?"

"Err...how do you know my name?"

The hiker scratched the back of his head, a confused look on his face. "It's the strangest thing. This young girl dressed in purple said a girl by the name of Dawn was going to fall off the cycling road today. She also said to tell you that another young girl has been lead deep into the Wayward Cave with promises of candy."

_This sounds like a sidequest. A sidequest that reeks of Dusk_, Dawn thought, frowning at the hiker. "Where's the cave?"

"Just back that way," the hiker replied, pointing north. "Be careful, though. The cave's dark and full of..."

"I know, I know. Zubat and geodude..." Dawn sighed. "I can handle them, they're just annoying to deal with." Dawn walked over to her bike. After a brief inspection, she stood it up, sat down on it, and positioned her travel bag behind her to balance out the weight. "Thanks, then. I'll be off," she said, then rode off in the direction of Wayward Cave.

Once Dawn was out of sight, the hiker's visage shimmered and disappeared, leaving a young cloaked girl carrying a cracked rock in his place. "Zubats and geodudes will be the least of your worries, Dawn," Dusk said to herself, a grin spreading across her face. "In that cave...there be sharks."

* * *

After departing from the hiker, it didn't take long for Dawn to find the entrance to the Wayward Cave. Soon enough she was standing outside on her bike, feet on the ground to maintain balance, and Conker the pachirisu perched on her handlebars. Dawn had a smug grin on her face as she looked into the darkness of the cave.

"Ok, this combination is unbeatable!" Dawn declared. "With you producing sparks we'll be able to see in the cave, and with this bike we can outrun those zubat too! We'll find that girl in no time at all!"

"-Almost makes it too easy!-" Conker said, then began to produce the necessary sparks from his cheeks. Dawn then started peddaling, moving into the cave. The darkness inside was lit up by Conker's sparks.

Even with just this small amount of electricity we're able to light up the tunnels in this cave! Dawn thought to herself. Conker, meanwhile, focused the electricity into an arc in front of him to aim light further ahead in the tunnel. This allowed Dawn to see what was ahead of them better and avoid obstacles at high speeds.

Dawn didn't need to go much further into the cave to find her first such obstacle. Shortly after Conker had extended the light from his electricity, they encountered a small group of zubat hanging from the ceiling. Startled by the light, the zubat dropped down to attack Dawn and Conker. Speeding up, Dawn easily drove her bike past them. The zubat turned to give chase but soon gave up, deciding it wasn't worth the effort.

"They gave up pretty easily!" Dawn said, looking back at the zubat but losing sight of them with Conker's light facing away now. When she looked ahead again she had to quickly swirve to avoid hitting a geodude burried in the ground.

"Almost forgot about the geodude," Dawn mumbled. "Well at least this shouldn't take too long," Dawn said. As she spoke, she came across a fork in the cave tunnels. She turned down the left path and immediately came upon a dead end. "Or maybe I spoke too soon," she mumbled, letting out an exasperated sigh.

Continuing through the cave, Dawn would find the obstacles she came across repeating. More zubats startled by the light, more geodude burried in the ground, and more dead ends. It was almost refreshing when she almost drove face-first into a large, floating gear as the strange pokemon made for a change in scenery at least.

Eventually, the scenery made an even more dramatic shift as Dawn came across an unusually well-lit area of cave. It was just before she would have rounded another bend, the curious light source shining on the wall ahead from the cave corridor perpendicular to the one Dawn was going down. Dawn stopped her bike and stared in disbelief. In the resulting silence she heard a pair of very soft footfalls approaching.

The footsteps turned out to belong to a young girl, who cautiously poked her head out from the other corridor when she noticed the light from Conker. She gasped in surprise when she saw Dawn and immediately ran up to her, a fox-like psychic pokemon with a thick tail floating behind her.

"E-excuse me! Do you know the way out of here?" the girl asked Dawn. "My name's Mira and some mean girl lead me all the way in here and then left me here!"

"...Yeah, I have a pretty good idea actually," Dawn replied, thinking to herself that it was turning out to be a rather easy sidequest in spite of Dusk's involvement.

"Are you sure you'll be able to get out, even then?" A voice asked from the darkness behind Dawn. Dawn quickly turned her bike around, pointing Conker toward the darkness, and Mira's kadabra joined him while shining a light from the spoon it held. Their combined light lit up the tunnel rather well, revealing Dusk from the darkness.

"You! You're the one that lead me in here!" Mira yelled, pointing a finger at Dusk angrily. "That was really mean, you know!"

"I apologize. I was merely using you as bait for this one," Dusk replied, gesturing toward Dawn.

"For her?" Mira blinked in disbelief and looked over at Dawn. "I don't get it, did I get caught up in some cruel prank or something?"

"It's a long story," Dawn said to her, then turned to glare at Dusk. "Just what are you going to try this time, anyway!?"

"Nothing I haven't already succeeded with," Dusk replied flatly. "By the way...Mario is a fat, lazy slob. Any real hero would put him in his place within seconds."

"WHAT?!" Dawn shrieked, a seething anger building up within her. In a rage, she started peddaling her bike toward Dusk. "YOU TAKE THAT BACK!"

"Dawn! Wait!" Mira called out after her as her and the two pokemon ran to catch up with her. As they were all rushing toward Dusk they soon felt the ground beneath their feet shaking and came to a stop. Before anyone could ask what was going on the ground beneath their feet began to crumble away, sending Dawn, Mira, Conker, and Kadabra plummeting down to the basement level.

"DUSK YOU CHEATERRRRRR!" Dawn yelled before the impact with the ground below silenced her. Dusk herself had been standing on the collapsing ground but was left floating in the air instead of following. The pokemon responsible, a dusknoir, faded into view shortly after.

"You're far too easy to read, Dawn. Not to mention guilable," Dusk said, snickering. "Well, hope you have fun down there!"

* * *

Dawn was lucky enough for her second fall that day to also land her on top of a hill, but at this point she was betting Dusk planned for that. Whether or not it was Dusk's intention for Dawn to fall down, hit the side of the hill, and roll all the way to the bottom was another matter. The fall still left Dawn more battered and bruised due to the rocky terrain, and having her bike manage to land on her legs didn't help matters either.

"I'm going to be way too sore to get up tomorrow at this rate," Dawn groaned as she sat up, pushing her bike off her legs and rubbing her sore backside. She first looked around to see how everyone else fared. Conker, like one might expect of a pokemon, shook off the fall like it was nothing. Mira's kadabra landed just fine as well by teleporting itself to the ground, after which it used its psychic powers to ensure Mira landed safely as well. In the end, only Dawn seemed to be getting hurt. Even the pokemon egg in her travel bag was unharmed.

I wonder if Dusk is just a little upset after that last encounter? Dawn thought, grimacing.

"Hey, are you ok? You look like you hit pretty hard," Mira said to Dawn once her kadabra had lowered her to the ground.

"I'm fine, really!" Dawn replied, quickly standing up only to nearly fall over again. Her legs were in pain and her whole body was still shaken from the fall. She took a moment to brace herself and straighten up, then turned to Mira and grinned. "See? Perfectly fine!"

"If you say so," Mira replied, shrugging. "What's that girl's deal with you anyway? What made her think you'd come in here looking for me? I mean, I don't even know you!"

"It's...it's a long story..." Dawn replied nervously, then looked around at her surroundings. "Where did we end up anyway?" she asked. The area they were in now was a large, open cavern just under where they were before. It was fairly high, but there were also hills and slopes all over the place with some of the hills having wooden planks going between them. Torches on the walls nearby kept the area lit, though it looked like they were put there rather recently.

"I think I remember hearing about this once," Mira said, also looking around. "Some trainers came down here and started to build a bike course underground, but then they came across something that forced them to stop..."

"Something like what?" Dawn asked, starting to feel a little nervous being down there now. The situation was slowly becoming clear to her.

"-Something like that, perhaps?-" Kadabra said, interrupting them to point toward a group of pokemon with his spoon. Four pokemon in all, standing near four holes that they crawled out of themselves. The blue pokemon looked like a cross between a dinosaur and a shark, sharp teeth bared and a wild look in their eyes.

"G-g-g-GABITES!" Mira shrieked, pointing at the wild pokemon fearfully. "They must have evolved from the gibles that chased off those trainers!"

"Not a very original name," Dawn said, frowning. Of course, she now fully understood the situation Dusk had set her up for. Somehow she had forced the wild pokemon to weaken the floor above enough to collapse with the combined weight of the girls on it, while having an escape for herself prepared. Dawn would be forced to face these pokemon herself, though she wasn't sure if getting Mira involved this far in was Dusk's plan or not.

"Well either way, we've got no choice but to fight these things I guess!" Dawn called out, then pointed a finger at the nearest gabite. "Conker, attack that one with Spark!"

"-Got it!-" Conker called back, charging electricity around his body. He charged at one of the wild gabites and threw his body into it. The gabite barely flinched from the hit and didn't seem to feel the electricity at all, then casually knocked Conker aside with one of its claw-tipped fins.

"Ground-type pokemon? Should have guessed," Dawn grumbled, taking a pair of pokeballs from her belt. "Bowser! Jax! Go!" The pokeballs opened in Dawn's hands, releasing Bowser and Jax only a few feet from the gabite. Jax immediately slid into a fighting stance and Bowser grinned, eager to show off his newest attack. They were soon joined by an upset Conker, wanting to take another shot at the gabites after they had shrugged off his Spark attack. Three of the four gabites lined up, picking their targets and growling. The fourth, finding itself without an immediate target, was eying Mira's kadabra.

"W-we can't fight these things, Dawn! They're dragons!" Mira said, waving her arms frantically. "They're evolved dragons! They're way tougher than any of our pokemon and I only have Kadabra!"

"How tough could they be?" Dawn replied. She would soon get her answer as the gabites made their attack. Letting out a loud roar, each fired a burst of blue flames at their intended targets. Bowser, Jax, and Conker cried out in agony as the flames struck and briefly engulfed them. The attacks inflicted a great amount of damage on them and Conker went down instantly. Kadabra, however, quickly grabbed Mira and teleported a few feet away to avoid the attack.

Dawn winced, taking out Conker's pokeball. "Ok, that looked painful," she said, recalling Conker. She returned the pokeball to her belt and then took another one in her hand. "Captain Falcon! Go! We need all the help we can get!" Captain Falcon materialized behind Bowser and Jax and gulped nervously when she saw what they were up against.

"Bowser, use..."

"-**WAAAAIIIIIT!**-" a loud voice suddenly roared, cutting off Dawn as she was about to call out her attacks. A pokemon looking similar to the four they were fighting suddenly impacted the ground face first between the two groups of pokemon, sending the gabites scattering briefly. The pokemon's face was stuck in the ground from the impact but it quickly pulled itself out and turned to face the group of gabites. The new arrival stood only half their height at just over two feet tall and had a particularly large mouth.

"-Just who do you think you are, ganging up on trainers like this!?-" the pokemon yelled at the gabites, pointing a finger at them. "-You used to be GIBLES! We're better than this!-" Getting only a series of angered growls from the other pokemon, the gible frowned. "-I see...you are not yourselves. Then I have no choice! I will dig deep into those thick skulls of your's and drag out the real you!-"

"-Huh, this one's got a lot of spunk.-" Bowser noted, blinking.

"-What good is it going to do him if he gets himself killed?-" Jax slammed his fists together. "-Come on! We're not just going to stand around and let him do all the work, are we!?-"

"-Guess we have no choice.-" Captain Falcon gulped nervously. "-Just once I'd like a battle with an easy escape route.-" Bowser looked back to say something to her, only then noticing that it wasn't a starly standing behind him.

"-Huh!? You evolved!?-" Bowser said in disbelief. Captain Falcon nodded. "-That doesn't seem fair somehow, Dawn only caught you recently and yet here I, her first pokemon, still haven't evolved...-"

"I think that wild gible is on our side." Mira said, blinking in disbelief.

"Ok! Then you just stand back!" Dawn said to Mira, putting on a brave face. "With that gible's help we'll fight these gabites on our own! Bowser, Seed Bomb! Jax, Captain Falcon, get in there and start hitting things with your Karate Chop and Wing Attack!"

Jax and Captain Falcon quickly moved forward, accompanied by Bowser's Seed Bomb attack flying past them. The seeds shot into a distant gabite and exploded on impact, knocking it to the ground. Two more gabites were soon attacked by by Jax and Captain Falcon, taking a Karate Chop and a Wing Attack to the side of the face. The fourth gabite was focused on the wild gible, firing a shockwave of blue flames from its mouth. The gible leapt high into the air to avoid it, though.

"-**TAKE THIS!**-" the gible shouted, doing a spin in the air until his large jaws were pointed down at the opposing gabite. "-**FLAMES OF COURAGE! BURNING SPIRIT ATTACK!**-" The gible fired off his own burst of blue flames, hitting the gabite hard and knocking it to the ground. The force of the blast exitting his mouth sent the gible spinning backwards through the air in an arch that brought him down only a few feet away from Dawn and Mira.

While the battle ensued below, Dusk and her dusknoir slowly floated down to the top of the hill that Dawn had rolled down. From there, she was able to observe the battle.

"Dawn's holding up surprisingly well, though I did not count on a wild gible getting involved," Dusk said to herself, sitting down at the edge of the hill. "This one seems pretty strong for a gible too."

_It seems perhaps the evolved leader wasn't the strongest of this pack like you had thought_, Dusk, a voice said to her. _I imagine it matters little, though. That one is still plenty strong, but why not release it now?_

"Simply put, I intend for this group to weaken Dawn's pokemon first before dropping the big one on her, so to speak," Dusk said, grinning to herself. "Dawn, you have no idea the effort I put into my trap this time. Even if you win this battle, victory will still be mine in the end. As we speak, my ghosts have a far more fearsome foe pinned just beneath your feet!"

_You're not the least bit concerned about how such a strong gible evaded being noticed, are you?_

"A gible's a gible, I've already got something better," Dusk replied.

Down below, the battle raged on. The wild gible actually stood back from the fight for a moment to watch how Dawn's pokemon were able to handle themselves. Jax and Captain Falcon landed another hit on the gabites they were fighting just as the two dragons tried to fire another Dragon Rage attack at them. Bowser wasn't so lucky and found one such attack coming his way. He only narrowly avoided it, taking a glancing blow as he rolled to the side.

"-Heh. Not bad for human-trained pokemon. You've got guts!-" the wild gible said with a toothy grin. Suddenly the gabite that he himself had attacked was picked up, surrounded by a blue glow, and thrown back. A dark aura could be seen rising from the gabite's body until it suddenly reverted to a gible. The gible then quickly fled, burrowing undergound.

"We'll fight too!" Mira boldly declared, looking at Dawn with a determined look on her face. "I don't know how much my kadabra can do, but we'll do what we can!" The kadabra standing in front of her nodded, still holding its spoon out toward the gabite it had attacked.

"-Well I'll just leave the rest to you two, then!-" Gible said.

"See? We'll beat these guys just fine!" Dawn said, nodding to her and then turning to her pokemon. She noticed a green glow around Bowser's body and the leaf on his head grew slightly. "Bowser! Finish that one with another Seed Bomb!" Dawn called out.

"-I'll finish this one at least,-" Bowser said determinedly. He opened his mouth and spat another round of seeds at the gabite that had attacked him. The seeds hit the gabite in the stomach and created a much larger explosion when they hit this time. The gabite crumpled to the ground and dark energy seeped from its body, reverting it back to a gible by the time it landed. The gible immediately dug away.

"-Hmph. Cowards.-" the wild gible grumbled, watching another of his kind flee in terror. "-Is this all it takes to dispel your courage!?-"

Meanwhile, the last two gabites that had been knocked aside by Jax and Captain Falcon decided to take a direct approach this time. As Dawn's pokemon moved to make one more attack at them, the gabites threw themselves into them with a full-body tackle. Having been hit hard by the Dragon Rage attacks earlier, both of Dawn's pokemon were knocked out instantly. Dawn quickly took out their pokeballs to recall them before the gabites could try to attack them while they were down.

"Three pokemon down...these guys really are tough!" Dawn said, but didn't look too worried about it.

"-Just me and these two then...-" Bowser mumbled weakly as the two gabites turned toward him. "-You guys are pretty tough...but I won't go down...without a fight!-" A white glow then suddenly surrounded Bowser's body and he began to grow. His shell expanded to cover his head and back, tail growing out behind him, and bushes grew on both sides of his back. When it finally stopped, Bowser stood a full three feet tall as an evolved grotle. Shortly after the evolution, the bushes on his back grew slightly as his Overgrow ability was still being triggered.

"Hey! Bowser's evolved for real this time!" Dawn shouted excitedly. Realizing the wild gabites weren't going to stop just because Bowser had evolved, and were already moving toward him, Dawn called out an attack. "Bowser! Razor Leaf!"

"-With pleasure!-" Bowser said, his voice deeper now. Several sharp leaves fired from the bushes on his back, striking the charging gabites. The two gabites roared in pain and collapsed, immediately reverting into gibles and burrowing into the ground to escape. With all of the wild gabites defeated, the wild gible approached Bowser.

"-Taking on four gabites like that, you guys got guts!-" the gible said with a grin. "-Just keep in mind, they woulda won if they hadn't gone berserk!-"

"-Err...if you say so?-" Bowser said, raising an eye at him.

Their victory soon turned out to be short lived. As the wild gible and Bowser were talking, the ground began to shake and then suddenly burst open beneath them, flinging them aside. Another wild dragon pokemon emerged from the ground, this one standing at six feet tall and having a head like a hammerhead shark's.

"G-g-g-GARCHOMP!" Dawn and Mira shrieked, both recognizing the newcomer. Dawn hurriedly reached for another pokeball and released Bridget. Bridget materialized almost directly in front of the wild garchomp and looked up at it.

"-Well. You're a big one, aren't you?-" Bridget said flatly. The garchomp took a swipe at Bridget, claws glowing orange, but Bridget caught the pokemon's wrist between his ears. "-Don't try me,-" he said, pushing the clawed hand away.

"Wow...that buneary of your's is pretty tough to block that attack so easily," Mira said to Dawn.

"It's because of how much he hates me that he's so strong!" Dawn said with a smug grin, seemingly proud of that fact while Mira and her kadabra were staring at her in disbelief.

Meanwhile, the wild garchomp took another swipe at Bridget, but this time he simply hopped back to avoid it. A slight grin started to form on Bridget's face. "-Heh. I've got to say though, you've got a lot of guts attacking me. You and that big ugly mug of your's.-" Bridget then jumped up and aimed a kick at the garchomp's face, but the garchomp blocked the kick with its other hand and forced Bridget back down to the ground.

"-To hold his own against even a garchomp...this group is really something,-" the wild gible said, a grin spreading across his face again. "-I've decided then! I'm going to join you guys!-"

"-Great. Can we work on taking this guy down first?-" Bowser suggested, rolling back onto his feet after landing on his side. "-Bridget's holding his own, but that's about it.-" Nearby, Bridget and the wild garchomp continued to match blow for blow, neither seeming to gain an inch of ground on each other.

"-There's only one way to finish this now,-" Gible said with a glint in his eye. "-A combination attack! We'll hit him at the same time!-"

"-Works for me!-" Bowser replied with a nod. Bowser quickly moved to line up a shot at the garchomp from behind, and the gible jumped on top of him.

"-**OUR SOULS BURN BRIGHTER TOGETHER! EAT THIS! OUR COMBINED ATTACK!**-" Gible shouted, firing a blast of blue flames from his large mouth. Bowser didn't say anything as he joined in the attack, firing a barrage of seeds from his mouth. The two attacks collided, the seeds being pushed forward by the shockwave leading the flames.

"Did...did they really think up combining their attacks on their own!?" Dawn yelled in disbelief. "Does this mean Bowser and that wild pokemon learned some kind of dual tech then!?"

_What's with her train of thought?_ Mira wondered.

The wild garchomp didn't see the attack coming, still locked in combat with Bridget. The seeds struck and exploded on its back first, but only by mere milliseconds before the blue flames burned across it. The garchomp growled in pain and staggered forward, heavily injured by the combined attack but not quite done yet. However, a swift kick to its jaw from Bridget finished it. The garchomp's head snapped back and it collapsed to the ground, reverting into a gabite. The wild gabite looked around in confusion and then quickly dug away.

"Alright! We won!" Dawn cheered.

"-Tch. I didn't need any help with that, you know,-" Bridget said to Bowser and Gible. "-Had that guy right where I wanted him.-" Dawn, Mira, and Mira's kadabra then suddenly ran past him toward Bowser and Gible.

"That was amazing, you two!" Dawn said to them.

"Yeah! I thought for sure we were finished when that garchomp showed up!" Mira added.

"-It was nothing at all!-" the wild gible said, a smug look on his face. Bowser, whom he was still standing on top of, rolled his eyes.

"You surprise me, Dawn." Everyone looked up and saw Dusk floating down nearby with her dusknoir, landing a fair distance to the right of the group. "I had expected that garchomp would surely have defeated you."

"Well you thought wrong!" Dawn yelled back, turning to face her with her fists clenched. "With these pokemon, you don't have a chance of beating me anymore!"

"-From that tone, I'd say she's already decided for herself that she's going to catch you.-" Bowser said to the wild gible, who nodded in agreement.

"Beat me?" Dusk shook her head. "No, after that last battle, I've changed my mind about you, Dawn. I want your help now."

"My...help?" Dawn blinked in disbelief. "What do you mean by that?"

"You see, Dawn, it is against my will that I am forced to fight you," Dusk said in a saddened tone. "I alone do not have the power to fight back against the dark master I serve. But now, now that I've seen your strength, I believe we can defeat it if we work together!" Dusk stretched out a hand toward Dawn. "Please! Help me!"

_Dusk...I knew this was bound to happen eventually_, Dawn thought, smiling to herself. She slowly started to walk toward Dusk, a smile on her face. Mira gasped when she noticed this.

"Dawn! Don't!" Mira called out, running after her. "It's just another trick!" Realizing Mira was likely correct, Bowser and Mira's kadabra ran after Dawn as well, bringing the wild gible along as it was still riding Bowser. At the moment they caught up with Dawn the ground suddenly gave out from under them, sending them plummeting down into another hole.

"DUSK YOU DIRTY LIARRRRRR!" Dawn shrieked, voice drowning out as she continued to plummet downward into a seemingly bottomless pit.

"I wish I could take some enjoyment in this, but outsmarting you is like using a legendary pokemon to beat up a Magikarp," Dusk said with a shrug. Her dusknoir then moved out in front of her suddenly, blocking a kick from Bridget and then grabbing him by the foot. "And don't think I've forgotten about you," Dusk then said to him.

"-Damn it...this one's tough...-" Bridget muttered. The dusknoir glared at him and then threw him into the hole in the ground.

"And that's that. I imagine being down there will keep her busy for a while, and the other ghosts should be making sure she isn't seriously injured by that fall. Nothing left to do here then," Dusk shrugged to herself and then looked around, spotting Dawn's bike nearby. Blinking, she slowly walked over to it and kneeled down next to it.

"A new bike, huh..." Dusk mumbled to herself. "She'll be wanting this back I bet..."

* * *

Author's Notes: I don't know what to think of this, but just this weekend I found myself falling down twice and narrowly avoiding a third. No landsharks though at any rate, so I'll chalk it up to coincidence...

Anyway, as should be obvious now, Dawn's got a gible even though she hasn't put it in a pokeball yet. The best nicknames I've been able to come up with are "King Fin" and just "Landshark" because, for some reason, every landshark in video games is just called a landshark. So any suggestions are welcome.

Bowser's likely going to be Dawn's last evolution for a while, depending on when I decide to have that Gible evolve. Her other pokemon don't evolve as early/easily.


	11. Chapter 11: Sinnoh Underground

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 11**

**Sinnoh Underground**

_Dear Diary,_

_ Still underground, as if that is any surprise. Kadabra and I have been working on finding a way to teleport out, but he still does not have the strength. I can't even be sure how far away from Wayward Cave we are now, which seems like the easiest place to access with teleport. And with no sun, how can we even tell how long we have been down here? Could have been hours. Days. Weeks._

_ Only Dawn would know for sure just how long we have been down here. She has the only poketch among us. Unfortunately, she is far too preoccupied to bother checking the time. To be fair, though, she has been digging up a lot of...stuff. I'm not sure what any of it is worth, but I do believe the shards she's been finding are used in jewelry. What bothers me is the way she goes about it, something about a 'great cave offensive'. She's completely burried the events at Wayward Cave in the back of her mind. Sometimes I think she forgets I'm even down here with her!_

_ That's fine, though, because she also forgot what happens when you catch a pokemon. I had to remind her before she made the mistake of putting that gible in a pokeball. She's been using him to dig at the walls since then and having the rest of her pokemon gather up whatever 'treasure' she finds. Keeps going on about expecting a 'boss' down here, too. Not that I'm sure where 'here' is yet..._

_ Well, that's all for now. Maybe later I will have something interesting to write._

_ - Mira_

Mira let out a sigh and put her diary away. The small backpack she carried was starting to feel lighter by the...hour? Day? Mira didn't know for sure. All she really knew was that she was running low on supplies no matter how much she tried to ration them. Nearby, she could hear the sound of rock being chewed through by a ravenous gible, the thought of which made her stomach rumble.

"We have got to find a way out of here..." Mira groaned. Kadabra put a hand on her shoulder to console her. "I don't get it," Mira began. "These tunnels seem to be going all over the place, as if there's an entire tunnel network under the region itself, but we haven't found a way out of here!" Mira threw an arm out toward the tunnel walls in disgust. "Nothing but dirt all around us!"

"-And lights.-" her kadabra added, glancing up toward the ceiling. There were several lights set up, with electricity running to them even, evenly spaced throughout the corridor. There was a fair bit of distance between them, though, so the light they provided was dim. The dim lightning made little difference after being underground for so long.

"Just what did I do to deserve this anyway?" Mira muttered bitterly.

"-You followed your stomach instead of your intuition.-" Kadabra said, nodding sagely.

"MIRA!" Dawn suddenly came around the corner from a side tunnel, looking pretty excited about something and waving her arms around. "Mira! You have to see this! I found this enormous face!"

"Great. I don't suppose that can get us up to the surface, can it?" Mira asked, a bitter tone in her voice.

"Just come on already!" Dawn ran up to Mira and grabbed her by the hand, dragging her unwillingly into the side tunnel. There was a pile of dirt from where Dawn had been digging, along with a few different color spheres, but that was all Mira seemed to be able to see.

"So where is it then?" Mira asked her. There was no 'enormous face' anywhere in the tunnel so far as she could see.

Dawn pointed toward the wall where she had been digging. "Right there. Take a close look!"

If it's an 'enormous face', shouldn't I be able to see it without looking so closely? Mira thought while leaning forward to take a closer look at the wall. At first, she didn't see anything. Then, suddenly, a huge mouth lined with teeth suddenly burst from the wall.

"KYA!" Mira shrieked, stumbling back from the shock of gible's sudden appearance. As she stepped back, she heard a click and suddenly shot off further down the tunnel. She screamed and tried to stop herself, but her foot seemed to be stuck to a white tile with an arrow on it that was racing across the ground. The arrow was heading straight toward another wall, but Mira's kadabra teleported nearby and lifted Mira off the tile with confusion. The tile itself kept going, stopping only a foot away from the wall.

Mira finally breathed a sigh of relief when kadabra set her down again. "Thanks kadabra," she said, then turned around to find Dawn and gible rolling around on the ground laughing at her. "HEY! That's not funny! I could have gotten hurt, you know!" Mira yelled at them.

Dawn sat up and managed to stop laughing long enough to reply with, "Oh, lighten up! The trap stopped on its own, didn't it?" Gible stood up and nodded his head in agreement.

"Eh..." Mira blinked and then shook her head. "Nevermind that! Where did you even find something like that!?"

"I bought it and a couple other cool things from a dwarf in exchange for spheres," Dawn replied, grinning. "I even bought this cool drill that I used to help dig out a secret base."

"Dwarf? Secret Base?" Mira's eye twitched in confusion. _What...what on Earth is she talking about?_

"Oh yeah! I haven't even shown you that yet!" Dawn quickly stood up and then ran to Mira. "Let's go! It's just down this way!" Dawn said, grabbing her by the hand. Mira didn't both trying to resist as Dawn dragged her off again. Of course, she was also a bit curious. Dawn eventually lead her to what looked like a typical section of tunnel, though, which left Mira confused when Dawn stopped there.

"Umm...there's nothing here," Mira said to Dawn. Kadabra and Gible arrived shortly behind them.

Dawn snickered and approached the dirt wall of the tunnel. "Are you sure about that?" With a wide grin on her face she reached down to the bottom of the wall and grabbed what looked like a small rock jutting out. Lifting the rock revealed the wall to be fake, just a piece of canvas designed to look like the surrounding wall. Opening it revealed a small room just inside.

"This...is my secret base!" Dawn announced, stepping into the room. Mira and her kadabra walked in behind her, both amazed that she managed to dig it out without either of them noticing. Looking around the 'base', Mira could see the various treasures Dawn had dug up as well. Shards, spheres, evolution stones, and other rare items. There was even a fossil.

Dawn's treasures weren't the only things in the secret base, though. A turtwig doll sat in the left rear corner of the room, and a tv in the right rear corner. Facing the tv was a feather bed, which made Mira a little upset realizing Dawn was sleeping in a comfortable bed while she was sleeping in the dirt. There were several more items piled in the middle of the room, all a square tile of some form that Mira assumed to be more traps. What really stuck out to Mira, though, was the pink bike next to the turtwig doll.

"Dawn...how did your bike get down here?" Mira asked her.

"No idea, it just kinda...showed up here," Dawn replied. "Food too. Every day, in the morning."

_She's been getting food delivered to her somehow!?_ Mira thought, teeth grinding in a barely contained rage. _I've been trying to get by with what I had down here and somehow Dawn's been living like it's some kind of secret retreat!_

"Just where ARE you getting all of this stuff!?" Mira asked her, voice raising slightly.

"Well, I guess they'd just be hikers, but I call them dwarves," Dawn replied, grinning sheepishly. "Otherwise I'd be completely disappointed by the lack of dwarves living underground."

_I...I don't get her logic at all!_ Mira thought in dismay.

"-It seems your trainer has been keeping rather busy all this time.-" Kadabra noted to Gible. "-Yet she could not find a way back to the surface?-"

"-HEY! I'll have you know I could dig all the way toward the surface if that was what she wanted!-" Gible nodded to himself and folded his small arms in front of him. "-Yep, it's only natural that she'd like it down here. What's not to like?-" Kadabra rolled his eyes at the gible's response.

"Nevermind what you're calling them!" Mira eventually shouted back at Dawn. "You mean to tell me there's other people down here? AND you met them?"

Dawn nodded. "Yep. They had all sorts of things to sell, but only in exchange for those spheres. Standard mini-game area type of thing."

_Mini-game area? What, does she think this is a game or something?_ Mira thought, blinking in disbelief. She then shook her head and said, "Look! Just show me where you found these guys!"

"Oh, sure, that'd be easy enough," Dawn replied, then nodded to Gible. "Ok, Bahamut, let's go see those dwarves again!" Bahamut, of course, was the name Dawn had eventually settled on for her gible.

Bahamut nodded back, grinning. "-Then I'll be right behind you!-" Dawn then headed out of the base, with Bahamut following directly behind her. Mira and her kadabra followed along behind Bahamut.

_An excellent idea, Mira_, the kadabra thought to himself. _Dawn is too unreliable, but these hikers should definitely know a way out of here._

The group walked through the winding tunnels, initially following Dawn as she tried to make her way toward the nearest hiker. With most of the tunnels looking the same, however, it didn't take her long to lose her way. At that point, Bahamut took the lead, having a much better sense of the underground than Dawn did. Mira and Kadabra were left wondering just why they weren't following Bahamut from the start.

Eventually, after coming around another turn in the tunnel, the group came upon a hiker. He was dressed almost exactly the same as the hiker Dawn had encountered outside the Wayward Cave, but was more muscular rather than looking overweight. He had his bake to them, poking at the wall of the tunnel with a cane while stroking his chin.

"Hmm. The wall does seem to be bulging a bit here..." the hiker mumbled to himself.

"Mister dwarf!" Dawn called out to him. The hiker shuddered and turned to Dawn with an enraged look.

"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!?" the hiker growled. Taking several deep breaths, he then added, "You better have more spheres on you to make up for this!"

_He's the hiker Dawn's been dealing with?_ Mira thought, blinking in disbelief. _I'm surprised he hasn't killed her..._

"I have a few, but they're back at my secret base right now," Dawn replied. The hiker seemed to think this over for a moment, stroking his chin.

"Hmm...and where is your base then?" he asked her.

Dawn stuck her tongue out at him. "Can't tell you! If I did, it wouldn't be a secret!" The hiker smirked faintly and Dawn and Bahamut snickered to themselves. Rolling her eyes, Mira walked up to the hiker and pushed Dawn aside.

"Please ignore her, she's been acting weird ever since we got here," Mira said to him. "My name's Mira, and I was hoping you would know the way out of here."

"Of course, but your friend should know too," the hiker said to her. Mira was silent for a moment as the realization slowly sank in. With slow, jerky movements she turned to face Dawn.

"Dawn...that better not be true..."

"If that's what you were looking for, you should have said so!" Dawn replied. She reached into her travel bag and took out a piece of paper. On it was a map of the underground with an exit point clearly marked, as well as the locations frequented by the hiker and the location of Dawn's secret base.

"What do you mean I should have said so!?" Mira growled, pushing the map aside to yell at Dawn. "That should have been obvious! Didn't you want to go back to the surface too!?"

"Hehe...guess I just got a bit carried away with finding treasure and stuff." Dawn grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck. "I was just finding so many neat things and then I ran into this guy who would give me more neat things in exchange for the things I was finding...it was just a lot of fun, really."

"-I got to dig holes!-" Bahamut said proudly, pointing toward himself. "-The soul of a digger burns within me!-"

Kadabra rolled his eyes. _Sometimes I think this one talks just to hear himself talking..._

"I can't tell you how surprising it is to see you kids down here without an explorer's kit," the hiker said to Mira and Dawn while gesturing toward the backpack he carried. "It's got rations, water bottle, digging tools, and a map of the underground. You can get them from a guy in Eterna City. But I guess kids these days would rather use their pokemon, no love for roughing it at all..."

Dawn pointed toward Bahamut and said, "I have a landshark dragon that can bite through anything, I don't need digging tools. And food just gets delivered to me somehow."

"How long ago was it that you ran into Dawn?" Mira asked the hiker, ignoring Dawn. The hiker thought about it for a moment.

"Would have to have been...two days ago I guess?" the hiker shrugged. "Why's that?"

"And Dawn, how long after coming down here was it before you found this guy?"

"Hmm..." Dawn thought for a moment, trying to recall the sequence of events. "Well...I ran into him maybe a few hours after I had been digging with Bahamut, I guess he heard him chewing at the wall. And I started doing that not long after we fell down here because I thought Bahamut might be able to dig back up to the surface at first."

"-Of course!-" Bahamut grinned and pointed toward the ceiling. "-Mine are the teeth that will--"

Kadabra glared icily at Bahamut. "-Finish that sentence and I'll mind crush you,-" Kadabra said, interrupting him. Bahamut gave him a challenging look in response but eventually decided to just drop the issue.

_So it has been about three days now?_ Mira thought to herself. _Well, at least now I know. But now that I know where the exit is, or at least how to find it..._

"Dawn, we're leaving. Show me the way out," Mira said to her. It wasn't so much a statement as it was a command. Dawn was about to protest such, as she still wanted to look for treasure, but then saw the glare that Mira was giving her.

"R-right! To the surface then!" Dawn replied nervously and then looked over the map, trying to figure out which way to go.

"If you're heading toward the exit, you two should be careful," the hiker warned them. "Other trainers come down here too, and they like to leave traps lying around. Especially near their secret base if they have one."

"Great. More traps," Mira grumbled, casting another glare toward Dawn. "Well then, Dawn, you can lead the way."

Dawn gulped nervously and nodded. _M-Mira's gotten really mean all of a sudden_, she thought before starting off toward the exit. Mira and her kadabra followed along behind her.

_Tch. One grouchy kid and she loses her nerve_, Bahamut thought, rolling his eyes. He still followed behind Dawn, despite losing a bit of faith in her. He was following at a distance, though. If nothing else, Bahamut wouldn't be anywhere near any traps going off.

_Strange_, the hiker thought when the girls were gone. _I wonder if they even knew they were in the Sinnoh Underground?_

* * *

Even with a map, the underground was a confusing place to navigate and Dawn found she was constantly second-guessing herself. There were few, if any signs for them to go by to know if they were going in the right direction. Dawn considered letting Bahamut lead the way, as he had a better sense of direction underground than she did, but Bahamut wouldn't have been able to use the map anyway.

_I get the feeling that Dawn is getting us lost but if I take the lead then, with my luck, I'll start hitting some of those traps_, Mira thought in dismay. So far they had been lucky enough to avoid finding any. Thinking over the issue for a moment, she came up with an idea.

"Dawn! Give that map to Kadabra!" Mira said to her. Everyone, her kadabra included, stopped and looked at her in bewilderment.

"You want your pokemon to lead us out?" Dawn asked her. Mira nodded.

"Kadabra is a really smart psychic pokemon, if he had the map he could definitely find the right way out and he could teleport to avoid any traps."

Dawn thought for a moment, then shrugged and handed over the map to Mira's kadabra. "Makes sense I guess. But I don't see what was wrong with me leading the way."

_I can think of a few issues with that_, Kadabra thought as he took the lead. He took a quick look over the map, then recalled every path they took in relation to Dawn's secret base to figure out where they were. It took less than a minute for the psychic pokemon to do this as well as determine the correct path toward the exit, discovering that Dawn had indeed taken a few wrong turns in the process. Finally, Kadabra began to lead the way toward the exit.

Yeah, I knew we weren't on the right path somehow, Mira thought when she realized her pokemon was leading them in the opposite direction that Dawn had been.

Now finally on the right path, the group was slowly getting closer to the exit. Unknowingly, they were also getting closer to another trainer's secret base. Much like Dawn had been in the process of doing with her own secret base, this trainer had traps set up both to deter people from snooping around and to mess with other trainers as a joke. It wouldn't be long before they stumbled onto the first such trap.

Shouldn't be much longer now, Kadabra thought, continuing to push ahead. Already, though, his legs were feeling tired. As a psychic pokemon, he didn't have much endurance. Realizing he couldn't go much further, he stopped for a moment and sat down. The two girls watched him curiously as he focused his psychic powers, eventually levitating a few inches from the ground. Once in the air, Kadabra began to move forward again.

"Why's your kadabra floating now?" Dawn asked Mira.

"He doesn't have the endurance for walking, this is probably easier for him," Mira explained. Dawn nodded, accepting this answer, but after a moment she spoke up again.

"If your pokemon is floating now, who's going to deal with traps?" Dawn's gaze remained on Mira's kadabra, so she didn't notice Mira suddenly move behind her when she asked this. As Dawn continued to move forward she heard a clicking noise under her feet. The ground then suddenly gave out around her.

"NOT THIS AGAIN!" Dawn shrieked, falling into a rather large but shallow hole and landing face first in the dirt. Mira was far enough behind Dawn to stop at the edge of the hole that had suddenly formed in front of them and her kadabra stopped and looked back when he heard the commotion behind them.

"Wow. You seem to be good at falling into pit traps, Dawn," Mira said, snickering.

Dawn rolled onto her back to look up at Mira. "Like you're one to talk!" she shot back. "You fell into every other pit trap I found too, you know!"

"Only because you-eek!" Mira was startled when she was suddenly hoisted into the air. Using his psychic powers, kadabra lifted Mira across the crater-shaped hole that had formed. He then did the same with Dawn, lifting her out of the hole. Bahamut found his own way across, digging under the hole and then popping out on the other side. After Dawn was lifted out, Mira looked down in the hole again and noticed something.

"There's another one of those tiles down there," she said, then looked at Dawn questioningly.

"Of course. Those tiles are the triggers for the traps," Dawn explained. "When you step on the tile, it triggers the mechanism below. After that, anything can happen. Pit traps, moving traps, smoke traps, even traps that create walls of fire..."

"If the tile is what triggers them...then why not send Bahamut ahead of us?" Mira suggested. "His fin would either slice them in half or knock them out of the ground, disabling the trap entirely!"

Dawn blinked. "That might actually work..." Turning to Bahamut she nodded to him and said, "Think you could do that?"

Bahamut grinned. "-Just watch me!-" Bahamut turned around and bent his knees as if preparing to perform a dive. "-Ultimate trap-slicing fin **GO!**-" Bahamut dove face first into the ground, slicing into the dirt and disappearing as it piled behind him. A few feet away his back fin rose up from the ground, like a shark in water, and sped down the corridor.

"Hey! Wait up!" Dawn called out after him. Dawn and Mira ran to catch up with Bahamut. Kadabra floated off ahead of them and caught up with Bahamut, then used his psychic power to mentally guide the landshark pokemon. Continuing toward the exit, Bahamut proceeded to bust through trap after trap. Tile triggers were sliced in half and even the mechanisms themselves, nozzles, tracks, etc., were broken up by Bahamut's digging.

_This really IS working! I wonder why I didn't think of it?_ Dawn wondered, glancing down at the broken devices as she ran by them. _Wow, do I ever feel sorry for whoever burried these!_

Eventually, after rounding one last turn in the cave, Bahamut's digging ceased turning up traps. It wasn't long after that they came across a mine cart and two sets of rails. The cart itself was on one set of rails and both went toward a steep incline that seemed to lead straight up to the surface.

"This must be how we get back," Mira said. Walking up to the cart, she looked inside and saw a control panel on the front. There were only a few buttons, though. An inset green button alongside a red button stuck out as the obvious on and off buttons.

"Looks easy enough, should be enough room for both of us too..." When Mira looked back at Dawn, she saw the hesitant look on her face and frowned. "Don't tell me you want to stay down here?"

"Well...I did dig up a lot of neat stuff...but there's something else I was doing before we fell down here too..." Dawn thought over her dilemma for a moment and then shrugged. "Oh well. I can come back for my stuff later, it's not like it's going anywhere in my secret base." With that, she took out a pokeball and turned to Bahamut.

"Since we're going up to the surface now I should put you in a pokeball," she said to him. Bahamut nodded in agreement. Dawn then held out the pokeball toward him and pressed the button. A red beam fired out, struck Bahamut, then de-materialized him and pulled him inside. The pokeball didn't shake at all, locking shut immediately and then disappearing as Bahamut was sent off to storage.

_That's the first time I ever watched a pokemon get sent to storage_, Mira thought, blinking. _Amazing how they seem to be able to do that no matter where the trainer is..._

Remembering her own pokemon, Mira took a pokeball in her hand and then recalled her kadabra. After placing the pokeball on her belt, the two girls climbed into the mine cart and Mira pressed the green button. The mine cart shook and then slowly began to inch forward.

"Oh come on! This better not be as fast as it goes!" Dawn whined. As if eager to prove her wrong, the mine cart began to go faster. And faster. Even as it reached the incline it was still speeding up. Dawn and Mira shrieked as it finally took off for real, speeding up the incline and heading toward the surface.

"I DIDN'T MEAN THAT FAST!" Dawn yelled. As the cart speeded up the slope, she caught a glimpse of another cart speeding downward. Though she only saw it briefly, she was sure she saw Roark going down into the underground. Shortly after, she felt the cart starting to slow down and both girls breathed out a sigh of relief.

"I've had enough excitement for one day I think," Mira muttered. The mine cart slowly came to a stop, but when the girls looked around they realized they were still underground. "Hey! What gives!? Isn't this supposed to take us to the surface?"

"Close 'nuff," they heard a dispassionate, male voice saying to them. Near where the mine cart had stopped was a small office window with a door beside it. Behind the window, there was an old miner reading a newspaper. His face was burried behind it, but without even looking at the girls he gestured toward a book on a ledge in front of the window. "Sign out, please."

"Sign...out?" Mira repeated in confusion. "We didn't even sign in though..." Upon hearing this, the miner immediately put the paper down and had a very angry look on his face.

"Do you have ANY idea what that means!?" the old miner growled. Dawn and Mira gulped nervously. Dawn suddenly regretted her decision to come to the surface.

* * *

Meanwhile, back underground...

"Well, guess it's about time I headed back to the surface," Lucas said to himself, hands in his pockets as he walked through the underground tunnels. He was on his way to the mine cart that would take him up to Oreburgh. On his back he carried a backpack larger than his usual one, packed full of things he dug up in the underground.

As Lucas rounded a bend in the tunnel he came upon a scene of destruction that made his jaw drop. For as far as the eye could see, mechanical devices had been sliced up and protruded from the ground.

"My...my traps! I spent hours planting those here!" Lucas said in disbelief. "Who could have...no!" Lucas clenched a fist. "It had to be her! No one else even knew I was down here! Well that's it, then! I'm definitely not going easy on her now!"

* * *

Author's Notes: Wanted to have a scene in the underground with Dawn digging stuff up, finding treasure and acting as if she were going through the Great Cave Offensive from Kirby Superstar, but I ended up focusing more on the traps and secret bases than I did the actual digging. Oh well. Without Dawn wearing a hardhat and wielding a pick it just wouldn't have been the same. Maybe when she goes back for her stuff.

As for who Lucas was referring to in that last bit? Well, let's just say it's someone for who the universe sometimes seems to go out of its way to make her life miserable. But more on that next chapter.

On another note, wow! I did not expect that many responses for Gible nickname suggestions. I ended up going with the obvious "Bahamut" though. I thought I had a Final Fantasy reference on Dawn's future line-up already, turned out I didn't. So Bahamut it is. Lot of great ideas though! Thanks everyone!


	12. Chapter 12: Strangers at Mt Coronet

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 12**

**Strangers at Mt. Coronet**

"Well. Should have realized I would have to deal with this eventually," Dawn muttered to herself. The 'this' she spoke of was an incredibly steep hill, impossible for her to scale without the proper equipment or help. The hill was currently the only obstacle between Dawn and the route leading from Oreburgh City to Hearthome. The hill was the very reason she took the long way around, hoping to avoid it.

The incident at the Oreburgh Mine was settled relatively easily despite the trouble that she and Mira seemed to be in. A system had been set up in the mines to record the names of trainers as they went into the underground, which they would sign again as they left. This way, if there were any problems, the mine staff and gym leader Roark would know who was underground at the time.

In Dawn and Mira's case, their trip to the underground had been entirely unplanned. They told the mine staff how they ended up in the underground, after which they were forced to wait in the mines until Roark himself could confirm their story. Roark was able to recognize that the holes in Wayward Cave were dug out from below, and thus the two girls didn't intentionally enter the mines unauthorized. Since they couldn't be placed at fault, they were free to go. Dawn spent the night in Oreburgh City, but hadn't seen Mira since. The pink haired girl was rather eager to get away from Dawn when the situation was over.

"This trip to Hearthome City has really taken a roundabout way there, but at least I have a way to get up this hill now," she said to herself, taking a pokeball from her belt. She took a few steps back from the hill and took aim with the pokeball, then pressed the button. A red beam fired out from the pokeball and materialized into Bowser at the top of the hill. Realizing he was alone up there, he turned and looked down at Dawn with a confused expression.

"I've been checking my pokedex and according to it, you should weigh over two hundred pounds!" Dawn said, grinning. She then opened her travel bag and pulled out a length of rope, which she had bought at a supply store. While retrieving the rope, her hand brushed against the pokemon egg she had in her bag and she felt it shake when she touched it.

_That was odd. Felt like something was moving in there_, Dawn thought, looking down at the egg resting in her bag. _I guess that means it's getting close to hatching? That didn't take long, though._

Closing up her bag again, Dawn took one end of the rope in her hand and then yelled up to Bowser, "Catch this when I throw it up!" Bowser nodded to her. Dawn then threw the end of the rope up the hill, which Bowser then grabbed in his mouth. Dawn then tied the other end of the rope around her waist.

_I know I'm going to end up getting my jacket dirty from this, but it's the only way_, Dawn thought, holding onto the rope tightly. "Ok, now pull me up!" she called up to Bowser. Bowser nodded and started walking backwards, holding the rope tightly in his mouth. Dawn walked toward the side of the hill as he pulled and pressed her body against it. Before long, she was being pulled up the side of the hill on her stomach. It was a very uncomfortable position to be in, and Dawn could feel the rope pulling painfully tight against her waist, but it was all over in less than a minute.

"There we go!" Dawn said, grinning as she stood up. Looking back from the top of the hill, she could see all the way to the coal mounds just outside the Oreburgh Mines. She took a moment to admire the view before untying the rope from around her waist, then she rolled it up and put it in her bag.

"Ok, now that I've gotten back up here..." Dawn suddenly turned and pointed a finger toward a mountain in the distance. "That's our target! Mt. Coronet!"

"-There? But I thought we were going to some city?-" Bowser said in confusion.

"There's a tunnel going through that mountain, and Hearthome is just on the other side," Dawn explained. "We just have to watch out for golems, dwarves, falling rocks, and other common mountain obstacles."

"-Well if there's any golems, I'll take them out with my Seed Bomb!-" Bowser said, grinning to himself. He didn't realize that Dawn was talking about a very different kind of golem.

With the hill scaled and Bowser informed of her intentions, Dawn started off on her way toward that very mountain. Bowser followed closely behind her. After a fairly short trip, taking less than a half an hour, they arrived at the foot of Mt. Coronet where a cave opening lead into the mountain. There, they were surprised to find someone waiting for them.

"Dusk!?" Dawn said in surprise, stopping in her tracks when she spotted the girl ahead of her. Bowser growled and moved in front of Dawn to protect her from any potential threat.

"You'd think you'd be used to seeing me by now," Dusk said to her. "I didn't expect I would be seeing you again so soon, though. Didn't like it underground?"

"AHA!" Dawn shouted, pointing a finger at Dusk. "So that was your scheme, was it? Hope I would be distracted by the treasure, base building, and trap laying, so I wouldn't be interfering with your nefarious plot?"

"Something like that," Dusk replied, narrowing her eyes at the girl. _Still, though she escaped so easily thanks to the other girl that got trapped down there with her, finding something to distract Dawn with always seems to be the best course of action. Definitely making note of this._

"Well don't think I'll fall for anything like that again!" Dawn shot back. "In fact, I'm not going to take another step near you!"

You staying right there would work perfectly if it didn't involve me staying here, Dusk thought, rolling her eyes. "You don't need to worry about traps. I'm not relying on them. This time, I will be your opponent," she then said to Dawn. Raising one arm, she held it out to her side with her hand pointing toward the ground. A vortex soon appeared and, from it, a white ghost pokemon with a torso that resembled a kimono emerged.

"This...is Freezer," Dusk said to Dawn. The ghost pokemon bowed to her. "She will be your first opponent. Given your abilities, I'd be surprised if she isn't also your last."

Despite her past efforts against Dusk's pokemon usually being futile, Dawn was grinning when she turned to Bowser. "Bowser, do you realize what this means!?"

"-We're screwed?-" Bowser replied very unenthusiastically. Bowser himself has had a bad experience with ghosts in just about every encounter. Worse, Dusk's newest ghost was obviously an ice-type.

"Just beyond that mountain is Hearthome, where I have to go to get the key to my house," Dawn explained, pointing toward the mountain. "Now Dusk appears in the last leg of my journey. That can only mean that this is the final battle! If I beat Dusk here then its over once and for all!"

_Some distractions clearly being worse ideas than others_, Dusk thought, rolling her eyes. "Just send out your pokemon already..."

"Fine!" Dawn shot back, then took a pokeball from her belt. "In that case, you can go up against my newest pokemon! Bahamut!" Holding out the pokeball, Dawn released her recently captured gible. Bahamut materialized several feet in front of Dawn, arms crossed and a wide grin on his face.

"-First battle with my new trainer! LET'S GO!-" Bahamut said.

"Hmph. All this time and you still haven't learned anything," Dusk said. "Freezer, Hail." Freezer nodded and raised her arms into the air. A cold wind blew across the field between the two pokemon and then hail suddenly began to fall.

"You're wasting your time! A move like that won't stop us!" Dawn said to her. "Bahamut, let's go! Mega Flare!"

"-A draconic power flows within me...-" Bahamut crouched down and then leapt high into the air. "-**TAKE THIS! THE DRAGON'S FLAME! BURNING SPIRIT ATTACK!**-" Bahamut opened his mouth and fired, sending a large blast of blue flames in Freezer's direction. The attack missed entirely, though, and instead hit the ground next to Freezer without the ghost pokemon making any effort to evade it. When Bahamut landed and looked to see what effect his attack had on Freezer, his jaw dropped in disbelief.

"It missed!?" Dawn and Bahamut said in disbelief.

"Freezer's Snowcloak ability," Dusk explained to them. "As long as the hail remains in effect, Freezer is partially distorted from view and thus harder to hit. Now, it's our turn. Freezer, Blizzard." Freezer crossed her arms in front of her and then spread them out again, sending a blast of ice and snow from her body. The winds directing the hailstorm shifted to join this blast, resulting in a wide burst of ice and snow heading toward Bahamut.

"-Too slow!-" Bahamut yelled and then jumped up into the air, seemingly avoiding the hit. The winds suddenly shifted, though, and the snow and ice followed him up into the air to strike from below. "-AHHHHHHH!-" Bahamut cried out in pain as ice began to form on his body. He dropped down to the ground, the ice shattering on impact, and was knocked out instantly.

"Bahamut...lost?" Dawn mumbled, shocked by how easily he had been defeated.

"-This girl's pokemon are pretty tough.-" Bowser noted grimly.

"Dragon and ground-type pokemon are weak to ice-type attacks, meaning a gible is doubly weak. Didn't you know that?" Dusk said to Dawn. She then chuckled to herself and added, "Not like it makes any difference. Blizzard is the strongest ice-type attack, and with Hail in effect it can't miss."

_Come to think of it, this is the first time I've had to deal with ice-type attacks_, Dawn thought as she recalled Bahamut. She carefully considered her next pokemon before taking another pokeball in her hand. "Ok, Captain Falcon, your turn now!" she called out, releasing Captain Falcon from her pokeball. Captain Falcon found herself materializing directly in the hail and shivered as the cold air and ice pellets struck her body.

"-If I d-don't freeze to death, I can use t-th-this hail to cover my e-escape...-" Captain Falcon muttered to herself, shivering.

"Captain Falcon, Double Team!" Dawn called out. Captain Falcon's body shimmered within the hail storm and then split into duplicate copies of herself. Five images of Captain Falcon now stood side by side. "Let's see you try to hit this!" she then said to Dusk in a challenging tone.

Dusk shook her head. "When I said it won't miss, I meant it. Freezer, Blizzard." Freezer crossed her arms and opened them again, sending a blast of ice and snow toward Captain Falcon. Mixing with the hail, the blast widened enough to hit all five of Captain Falcon's images. Four immediately disappeared and the final one had ice build up onto her body until she fell over onto her side.

"What!? Don't tell me flying-type pokemon are weak to ice, too!?" Dawn said in disbelief.

"You're the one with the pokedex here," Dusk shot back. "And before you try it, your grotle is weak to ice attacks as well. As would be your vespiquen if you had it with you."

"You...knew that?" Dawn stared at Dusk for a moment as that sank in, then glared angrily at her when she realized what that meant. "HEY! How about a little privacy!? You better not be watching me then, at least!"

"I don't have to answer that," Dusk shot back. As she spoke, the hail storm began to die down. "Great. And because you distracted me, the hail's ended." Dusk let out a sigh, "Guess I'll switch then. Freezer, fall back." The frosslass nodded and floated back behind Dusk. Outstretching her arm, a vortex appeared on the ground and from it a dusknoir slowly rose up from it. Once he had emerged fully, the vortex disappeared.

"You remember Reaper, I take it?" Dusk asked Dawn, gesturing toward the ghost pokemon before her.

I never actually fought that one, but I've seen it with her a lot, Dawn thought. Is this her best pokemon, maybe? Without replying to Dusk, Dawn took Captain Falcon's pokeball in her hand and recalled her, then turned and nodded to Bowser.

"Ok, Bowser, let's see if you can take this one down with your new technique!" Bowser nodded and quickly rushed out in front of Dawn.

"-I'm not confident I can beat this guy, but I won't know for sure unless I fight!-"

"I might not know ice-type pokemon very well, but I DO know ghost pokemon!" Dawn said to Dusk. "And I know they're weak to dark-type attacks! Bowser, attack with Seed Bomb and then move in for a Bite attack!" Bowser opened his mouth and fired several small seeds at Reaper, then immediately charged toward the ghost pokemon after firing. Several small explosions riddled Reaper's body, but the ghost pokemon was hardly phazed.

"Reaper, Will-o-Wisp." Reaper extended his arm toward the charging grotle and a ghostly flame swirled around it until it reached his hand. The flame then fired out, weaving through the air until it struck Bowser in the side of the face. The flame left him briefly stunned, leaving a noticeable burn mark. Bowser quickly shook it off and continued the charge, opening his mouth and snapping it shut on Reaper's outstretched hand.

"Yeah! Good job, Bowser! We've got it right where we want it, now!" Dawn said excitedly.

Dusk rolled her eyes. "Reaper, you know what to do now." Reaper nodded and then looked at the grotle latched onto his arm.

"-Who has who, exactly?-" Reaper said, raising his other fist. The dusknoir's fist became engulfed in flames and Bowser only had time enough to let go of Reaper's hand in shock before Reaper slammed his fiery fist into Bowser's jaw. Bowser yelped in pain as the force of Reaper's punch knocked him back several feet, where he landed hard on his back. Bowser was stunned for a moment before rolling back onto his feet and looking at Reaper with a pained expression on his face.

_This one's really tough..._ Bowser thought. _One more punch like that and I'm out, but that guy looks like he didn't even feel that bite...and this burn isn't helping me any..._

"This is pathetic. Reaper, finish it with Shadow Ball," Dusk commanded. Reaper nodded and the mouth on his stomach opened wide. A ball of shadowstuff began forming in Reaper's large mouth.

_I don't get it, I thought for sure this was the last fight!_ Dawn thought, realizing she couldn't win. _This is playing out more like one of those fights where you're pretty much set to lose unless you've grinded to an insane degree or cheated.I bet someone else is going to show up any moment now to beat Dusk for me because I'm not ready yet..._

Bowser braced himself, closing his eyes as the dusknoir lurched forward and fired the Shadowball attack. Just then, a green blur shot past Bowser, putting itself between him and the oncoming Shadowball. In a blur of motion, the green pokemon made an overhead swipe at the Shadowball with a purple-tinted blade. The ball was knocked straight back into Reaper's mouth and exploded there, sending a pulse of energy through Reaper's body that caused the ghost pokemon to double over in pain.

"Reaper!?" Dusk called out to her pokemon in shock. Grimacing, she looked toward her pokemon's attacker. A green lizard-like pokemon with a large, bushy tail and blade-like leaves on its arms stood between her and Dawn's pokemon. The purple glow that one of the blades had just seconds ago had faded, a remnant of the attack it had countered with.

"So, you must be Dusk then," a girl's voice called out. Without Dawn even noticing, an older, brown-haired girl wearing a green jacket and brown pants had walked up next to her. Dusk looked back to the girl with a glare. "I was hoping I would run into you. I'm curious about those powers you use..."

_That girl...haven't I seen her somewhere before?_ Dawn wondered, giving the new arrival a curious look. Though she wasn't sure why, the girl looked familiar to her. _Guess this means I was right though, it was an unwinnable fight,_ she thought in disappointment.

"I don't know who you are, but don't think you've beaten me with just that!" Dusk said angrily. Stretching out her hand, she summoned a vortex under Reaper, sending him back into the void. The vortex remained open, however, and a banette and what looked like a ghostly witch floated out of it. Freezer then joined them as the vortex closed, leaving the sceptile facing three ghosts now. "I have plenty of pokemon to spare. Your pokemon can't possible handle them alone."

"You're right, he couldn't-" the girl was cut off as someone thwacked her in the back of the head. "Ow! Hey!"

"Stop trying to act cool." Lucas said, stepping up next to Dawn while the other girl glared at him. "Dawn, this is Melany. Melany, Dawn," he then added without actually looking at either of them.

"Hmm..." Dawn looked at Melany for a moment and then snapped her fingers. "Now I remember! You're the secretary or whatever from Rowan's lab!" Melany cringed when Dawn said this.

"I'm a junior research professor, thank you very much," Melany shot back, then focused on Dusk. "As I was saying...well, nevermind actually. Sceptile, just go for it." Sceptile nodded and suddenly shot past the ghosts in a blur of movement with Quick Attack. Dusk braced herself, expecting an attack, but Sceptile ignored her and headed straight into Mt. Coronet.

"Don't think you'll be able to hide from my ghosts in there," Dusk said, motioning for her pokemon to follow. The three ghost pokemon moved toward the cave entrance but as soon as they were there they were blasted by a large bolt of electricity. Crying out in pain, the ghosts staggered back. While electricity was still coursing through their bodies, Sceptile dashed out and shot past Freezer with one leaf blade surrounded in a dark aura. After Sceptile had passed, Freezer recoiled as if struck and then collapsed to the ground.

"-Whoa...-" Bowser blinked in disbelief. _This guy's good, I couldn't even touch these ghosts._ He then winced, feeling the burn on his face still hurting him and growing steadily weaker as a result. Fortunately, Dawn realized this and quickly recalled him, seeing that she didn't have to fight anymore.

"Gh! What kind of an attack was that!?" Dusk said in disbelief, looking between the sceptile and the cave entrance. Soon enough, a ufo-like pokemon emerged from the cave, two small magnets with eyes attached on either side of the pokemon's body. "Where did that pokemon come from!?"

"That...would be Magneton," Melany said with a smirk on her face. "Or rather, I should say Magnezone. Sceptile was carrying Magnezone's pokeball burried in that tail of his. Once he was inside Mt. Coronet, he released the magneton from its pokeball. Exposed to the strange magnetic field around Mt. Coronet, it evolved into its current form."

_Just how far in advance did she plan this!?_ Dusk wondered, looking back at Melany now. Freezer was down, knocked out by the combined attacks of Melany's pokemon, and Dusk could still see four more pokeballs on the older girl's belt. _What do I do now? I have no idea who this girl is, but her pokemon are at least as strong as my own. Maybe stronger. And she already has the upper hand..._

_You cannot win this battle, Dusk_, a voice said to her. _I sense there is a great power with that girl, still contained in three of the pokeballs with her. Each is on par with the power of the lake spirits. All we can do now is hope nothing will happen within Mt. Coronet._

"Tch...fine..." Dusk grumbled. Pointing a hand toward her pokemon, a vortex opened under them. The banette and mismagius immediately fled into the vortex, and Freezer's unconscious form fell in. After retrieving her pokemon, Dusk looked toward Melany again. "I don't know who you are, but Mt. Coronet is your problem now," she said, then opened a vortex beneath her feet and fled as well.

"...I'm starting to think no one in this region knows me," Melany said, sighing.

"You're not that special," Lucas said tersely, then turned to Dawn and handed her a small computer chip. "Here. Put that in your poketch. It'll give you the dousing app."

Dawn took the chip and looked at it curiously. "Umm...ok?" she said, then looked at Lucas. "Where did you two come from all of a sudden anyway?"

"She claims she's meeting someone in Hearthome..." Lucas pointed back at Melany, "I'm going with her that far to make sure she's not lying. When I saw you fighting Dusk, I told Melany to help."

Why does it feel like Lucas has been berating me even more since yesterday? Melany wondered. Ignoring the two, she walked up to her pokemon with one pokeball in hand. "Sceptile, Magnezone, good job you two. That plan of attack worked perfectly." The two pokemon nodded and Sceptile handed a pokeball to Melany. She used the two pokeballs she now had to recall both her pokemon.

"Melany...I think I've heard that name somewhere before," Dawn said to Lucas. The boy shrugged.

"She's no one special if you ask me. Just a trainer who thinks she's cut out to be a pokemon researcher," Lucas said to Dawn. "Anyway, if you're heading through Mt. Coronet then you might as well come with us."

Dawn nodded. "Ok, fine by me."

"By the way, about Dusk...she ever use a pokemon called spiritomb?" Lucas asked Dawn.

"Umm...spiritomb?" Dawn blinked. "I don't think I've even met one of those..." Dawn took out her pokedex to check and scrolled through. Eventually, she did come across an entry labelled 'spiritomb', which surprised her. It surprised her even more when she checked the image and still had no idea where she had encountered such a pokemon. Noticing that Dawn was staring at her pokedex with a look of disbelief, Lucas moved closer to see for himself.

_So Dawn did encounter one at some point...but did it belong to Dusk?_ Lucas wondered. He shrugged and stepped back. _Well, I'll figure it out one way or another._

"In any case, let's go already," Lucas then said to Dawn before heading toward the entrance to Mt. Coronet. Melany stepped aside as he walked by her, giving her a rather cold glare.

_Seriously, what's up with that attitude he's giving me!?_ Melany wondered, narrowing her eyes at him. _You'd swear I did something to piss him off yesterday. More over, when did I fall so far to be taking orders from a twelve year old!? _Melany let out an exasperated sigh and then looked back to see if Dawn was coming. She was startled when she found the girl standing directly behind her.

"I know I've heard that name before..." Dawn mumbled to herself, then continued off into Mt. Coronet.

_This region is strange_, Melany thought, then shivered. _And cold. I can't wait to get back to Hoenn..._

Melany then headed in as well, joining up with Dawn and Lucas. Shortly after entering the mountain, they passed by a blue haired man. Dawn gave him a curious glance but nobody said anything and continued walking, but the blue-haired man, the same guy Dawn had seen in Eterna City, stopped and looked back at the group after they had walked by.

_Children. They defile this sacred mountain with their presence. The mountain where Sinnoh...no, where the world itself began_, the man thought to himself. _And it will not be long now before I have the power...to remake the world as I see fit. A smirk crossed the man's lips and he continued on his way._

_Yep. Foreshadowing senses definitely tingling_, Dawn thought, chancing another look at the strange man. _Should have known it wouldn't be ending today..._

* * *

Meanwhile, in Dusk's hidden place, she watched as the group passed through Mt. Coronet, keeping a close eye on Dawn in particular.

"No reaction from her at all," Dusk said to herself. "If the item we're looking for was ever in Mt. Coronet, it must not be there now."

_That would certainly seem to be the case_, a voice said in Dusk's mind. Behind her a pair of large, red eyes peered out from within the darkness. _This will make our task much harder. Mt. Coronet was our only lead._

"Tch. Well I'm keeping an eye on her anyway," Dusk said tersely. Silence fell between the two until Dusk looked back at the glowing eyes with a disappointed look on her face.

"This would be much easier if we had any idea what this summoning tool or whatever looked like."

* * *

Author's Notes: Fairly short chapter, and the second appearance of a past character. I eventually plan to put pokemon lists...somewhere. But until then, here's a list of Melany's Pokemon:

Sceptile, Minun, Golem, Skarmory, Azumarill, Alakazam, Absol, Camerupt, Armaldo, Magnezone, Swellow, Metagross, Porygon-Z, and Rhyperior. Also has the three Regi's and can call upon Rayquaza and Latias, but at this point I'm don't know if either of those last two will actually show up this saga.

The remaining girls will likely show up soon as well.


	13. Chapter 13: A Beautiful Thing

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 13**

**A Beautiful Thing**

The group, now consisting of Dawn, Melany, and Lucas, managed to make it through Mt. Coronet without any issues. However, they still hadn't arrived in Hearthome yet. Dawn of all people had requested that they stop outside Hearthome and requested a chance to spar against Melany's pokemon. It wasn't going well.

"Dawn, all I asked you to do is hit Sceptile once." Melany gestured toward the cratered field around where Sceptile now stood. Bowser stood about a dozen feet away, looking exhausted from his continuous attacks. "You've hit everything BUT him. Are you even taking this seriously?"

"Of course I am!" Dawn shot back. "But how is Bowser supposed to hit something that fast!?"

"You're not going to hit anything if you just keep yelling 'Seed Bomb!', you need to put some real thought into battling," Melany said to her. "Come on, you were able to hold your own against a gym leader, right? If that's the case, just hitting my pokemon shouldn't be this hard for you."

_I'm beginning to doubt Dawn could have held her own against a gym leader, she has no talent at all_, Lucas thought, sitting off to the side to watch the girls. His piplup, Pips, sat next to him, taking a greater interest in the grass swaying in the wind than the battle.

"Ok then...you want me to put some 'real thought' into it?" Dawn said, suddenly looking very serious. "Then take this! Bowser, use your Tickle attack!"

"-Do I have to?-" Bowser groaned. He slowly trudged toward Sceptile, hoping he would move out of the way. He didn't. Sceptile didn't move until Bowser stretched out his right forelimb to tickle him, at which point Sceptile sidestepped out of the way. Bowser tried a few more times, but Sceptile stepped out of the way each time and eventually started jumping over him.

_Just what in the world does she hope to accomplish with that?_ Melany wondered, narrowing her eyes at the girl. To her surprise, Dawn was grinning back at her.

_Wait for it..._ Dawn watched Sceptile's movements closely. Bowser made another move to touch Sceptile. Dawn watched for the moment when Sceptile began to crouch his legs, then called out an attack. "Bowser! Now! Razor Leaf, straight up!"

Sceptile jumped over Bowser as Dawn called out the attack, leaving him in a position where he couldn't defend against it. Bowser fired sharp leaves straight up from the bushes on his back and Sceptile cried out in pain. Lucas reflexively covered his groin when he saw the attack. Sceptile hit the ground and fell over when he landed on the other side of Bowser, a dazed look in his eyes.

_I guess it was...super-effective?_ Melany thought, blinking, then shook her head. "You managed to get the hit, but how often do you think you could pull a stunt like that outside a training match?" Melany asked Dawn while taking Sceptile's pokeball in her hand and recalling him. "And another thing...you should have been trying things like that from the beginning."

_This is tougher than I thought_, Dawn thought to herself. _I wanted to do some training so I'd be ready for anything else that might come my way, since somehow it seems like I'm nowhere near finished even though I've arrived in Hearthome, but I don't feel like I'm really learning anything other than 'don't use your best attacks'..._

"Look, you like video games, right?" Melany asked Dawn. The question immediately got the younger girl's question. "If you come across a tough boss in an RPG, one you can't beat, you go back and grind until you can just throw your strongest attacks at it. That's what you're thinking, right?"

_She read me like a book_, Dawn thought, shoulders drooping slightly. Lucas facepalmed and shook his head.

"But that's not the only solution. Often times you'll actually have the necessary tools to win already, you just need to come up with a strategy that makes the best use of them," Melany explained. "I'll take a look at your pokemon in a bit, but first why don't you show me your best?"

"My best?" Dawn frowned and glanced down at one of her pokeballs. _My best would probably be Bridget. I don't know how helpful he's going to be since he still doesn't like me_. Letting out a sigh, Dawn took the pokeball in her hand and then released Bridget. Bridget appeared next to Bowser and looked around with the usual scowl on his face, taking note of Melany and Lucas.

_I know not to judge a pokemon by its appearance, but is that seriously her best pokemon?_ Melany wondered, blinking in disbelief at the sight of the pink bunny.

"Still having problems with your buneary, I see," Lucas said to Dawn. Dawn immediately shot him a glare.

"Oh yeah!? Well at least MY pokemon evolved!" she shot back. Hearing this, Bowser looked over at Pips curiously. The piplup still had a rather disinterested expression, which seemed incredibly off to Bowser. The piplup he knew would have taken a comment like that as a challenge.

"-Dawn better not be trying to trick me into battling for her again,-" Bridget muttered bitterly, assuming Melany was another opponent when he saw the girl sizing him up.

"Well, just looking won't tell me anything," Melany said with a shrug. "Dawn, why not have..." she began to say, but was interrupted by the catcall-like cry of another buneary running toward the group. The buneary had a carefree look on its face, running straight ahead without paying any attention to where it was going. Bridget looked in the other buneary's direction only a brief moment before it crashed into him, knocking both buneary to the ground with dazed looks in their eyes.

_That's probably not good_, Dawn thought, wincing as she found herself taking pity in the other buneary. Bridget was the first one to get back up, rubbing his paw against his head.

"-Ow...hey, why don't you watch where you're...-" Bridget stopped mid-sentence when he saw the other buneary getting up. Though no one else could tell, the buneary that had bumped into him was female.

"-Oh, I'm so sorry!-" the female buneary said frantically. She reached up and pulled her ears down over her face. "-You're mad at me now, aren't you?-"

"-N-no!-" Bridget replied, quickly shaking his head. "-It was my fault! Really! I, uh, shouldn't have been standing around like that!-"

_Huh? Is it just me, or is Bridget acting kinda shy around this one?_ Dawn thought, blinking in disbelief. Lucas and Bowser both looked surprised by Bridget's attitude, to a lesser degree.

"Baby buneary, come back here!" a woman in a pink dress yelled, running to catch up with the buneary. She immediately bent down and scooped up the buneary in her arms and hugged her tightly. "Come on now, you know better than to run off like that!" she said, then noticed the rather angry glare Bridget was giving her and looked around at the gathered trainers.

"I don't know what I would have done if you kids hadn't been here. Who's buneary is this?" she asked, pointing toward Bridget.

Dawn timidly raised her hand. "He'd be mine, actually..."

"Oh? Hmm..." the woman stared at Dawn curiously for a moment. "You look kinda familiar." The woman smiled at her. "In any case, a pleasure to meet you! My name's Keira. If it's not too much trouble, perhaps you could drop by the contest hall later?" she said, then turned around and left. After she was gone, Bridget turned around and shot a piercing glare in Dawn's direction that sent a shiver through the girl's spine.

"-HEY! YOU!-" Bridget pointed toward Keira as she walked away. "-Take one guess where we're going.-" To Bridget's annoyance, everyone remained silent until Keira and her buneary were almost out of sight.

"Well that was...random?" Dawn said, blinking. Furious, Bridget started to make a lot of noise while pointing frantically in the direction Keira left. "S-sorry Bridget, I have no idea what you're trying to say..." Bridget's ears dropped when he finally realized this.

"-Ah, the love life of a trained pokemon can certainly be difficult, no?-" Bowser said to Bridget. Bridget quickly shot him a menacing glare.

_If I had a chance to meet up with a certain friend of mine, she could easily translate_, Melany thought to herself.

"Well, she did tell you to go to the contest hall. No point keeping her waiting," Lucas said to Dawn. Letting out a sigh, he slowly stood up and dusted himself off. "I have things to do myself, so the sooner I can confirm whether or not Melany was actually meeting someone in Hearthome or not, the better."

_Come to think of it, isn't the contest hall the most likely place my mom would be hanging out?_ Dawn frowned and scratched her head. _I've heard of 'plot bunnies' before, but this is ridiculous..._

"I guess that's it for now, then," Melany said, fighting back the urge to send a few choice words in Lucas's direction. "Dawn, if I get the chance I'll stop by to see you again before I head to Snowpoint."

On the contrary, Melany, if I get that key from Mom then I have absolutely no intention of sticking around in Hearthome, Dawn thought to herself.

Meanwhile, Bridget was staring at the group in disbelief. Despite his failure to let them know where he wanted to go, they were now going there anyway. _Humans_, he thought. _Can't live with them. Can't live without them._

* * *

The trainers split up when they finally entered Hearthome City. Melany and Lucas went looking for Melany's friend, heading to the pokecenter first, while Dawn chose to skip her usual immediate stop by the pokecenter to head straight to the contest hall. Her team of pokemon would still be injured from their encounter with Dusk, but Dawn had completely forgotten. When she arrived at the contest hall, she was completely unsurprised to find her mother already there.

"What's this, now? Did you actually decide to try entering a contest? Or are you just here for the house key?" Dawn's mother asked when she entered the contest hall with Bridget and Bowser. Keira looked between the two for a moment, noticing a resemblance between the two. Notably that they had the same color hair.

"Oh wow! Johanna's really your mother?" Keira asked, smiling at Dawn. "Now I know why you looked so familiar! Maybe you'll be the next contest superstar?"

Dawn opened her mouth to answer, but Johanna cut her off. "Oh, I'm not so sure. Dawn never did show much interest in contests..."

"I don't know how much use this will be to you then, but here," Keira handed Dawn a small jewelry box, the kind one might use to hold a single ring. Inside the box was a small pile of glittery dust. "It's an accessory, used to dress pokemon up for contests," Keira explained to her. "Speaking of which, I have to go now. My buneary and I are due to judge another contest in ten minutes."

"I'll see you later then," Joanna said. Keira said her goodbyes and then headed off toward the arena. After Keira was gone, Joanna turned to her daughter and smiled. "Well, there's only ten minutes left. Did you want to give a contest a try while you're here?"

"Hi Mom," Dawn replied, letting the sarcasm in her voice sink in before actually replying to the question. "I didn't come here to enter any contests. I came here because for SOME reason I was locked out of the house and had to come all the way to Hearthome to pick up a house key, battling vicious wild pokemon, an evil goth girl, and a villainous organization along the way." Dawn held out her hand. "Key please."

"-Hold up! I want to see that buneary again!-" Bridget said, folding his arms and glaring up at Dawn.

"-Forget it, you know she can't understand you,-" Bowser said to him.

"Certainly sounds like you've been through quite a bit," Joanna replied, her tone suggesting she didn't truly believe her. It wasn't unusual for kids to make up stories, afterall, and that went double for someone who might compare their experiences to a video game. "Well if that's what you want..." Joanna reached into her pocket to retrieve the extra house key.

"-Damn it! Listen to me!-" Bridget growled. "-I want to get into that contest hall or whatever it is!-" Bridget still went ignored as neither Dawn nor her Mom could understand Bridget. As Joanna handed the key over to Dawn, Bridget was just about ready to give up on ever getting a chance to see Keira's buneary again. But then something happened to change all that.

"Excuse me!" a blonde-haired girl called out as she approached the two, accompanied by a pikachu and a flareon. She stopped in front of them, bowed, and said, "Sorry but I couldn't help but overhear your pokemon saying it wanted to enter the contest."

Dawn stared at the girl for a moment, blinking in disbelief, and then said to her, "Wait...Bridget does? How can you even know that!?"

"Oh, you must be the foreign entry that Keira mentioned," Joanna said to the blonde-haired girl. The girl nodded to her.

"That's right! I'm supposed to be meeting up with a friend, but decided to enter Felicia in a contest while I was waiting," the girl gestured to the flareon standing next to her. The flareon, Felicia, looked pretty happy to have the chance to show off and Dawn could tell just by looking at her that she was a very well-groomed pokemon.

"Anyway, I have to go now," the girl continued. "Just wanted to tell you what your pokemon was saying since there's still another opening left." The girl then waved to Dawn and headed off down a corridor marked 'Co-Ordinators Only'. After she was gone, Dawn gave her mother a questioning look.

"Why don't you seem the least bit surprised by this?" Dawn asked her.

"You meet all kinds here, dear," her mother replied with a wide smile on her face. "So will you enter the contest then? It might make Bridget warm up to you a bit."

"-Marginal possibility,-" Bridget said bitterly, folding his arms."-And get that girl back here. We could use someone like that!-"

"-I'm surprised someone like that even exists,-" Bowser said, blinking in disbelief.

"Yeah, looks like you win this one somehow," Dawn said to her mother. "I'll enter one contest, but then that's it! Then I'm going home!"

"That's fine," her mother replied. "I have a dress for you to wear, a contest pass, and you can use my accessories. You don't have much time, but you should practice while you can."

_It's almost like she was prepared for me to enter a contest when I got here_, Dawn thought. _No, scratch that. She definitely knew somehow..._

Letting out a sigh, Dawn turned to Bowser and took his pokeball in her hand. "Bowser, you should get in your pokeball for now. You're too big to be following me around inside everywhere," Dawn said to him. Bowser nodded in agreement and was then recalled by Dawn. After recalling Bowser, Dawn headed off down the corridor that the blonde-haired girl went down earlier and motioned for Bridget to follow her.

"-Hold it, why am I entering a contest again?-" Bridget wondered, raising an eyebrow "-I just wanted to get into the contest hall or whatever, not enter a contest...-" Bridget let out a sigh and shrugged. "-Whatever. At least I got this far I guess.-" With that, Bridget finally bounded along behind Dawn to get ready for their contest.

* * *

With less than ten minutes to go, Dawn had to devote much of what little time she had to trying to teach Bridget a few dance moves. Dawn was fairly well informed when it came to contests as her mother used to tell her about them all the time. She knew the first round would involve using accessories to dress up her pokemon to fit a certain theme, something she knew Bridget wouldn't readily go along with, and pokemon would be judged by both their accessories and condition. Dawn didn't have time to use or make any poffins, so she was already lacking in the condition department.

The next round, the round Dawn was actually spending time planning for, was the dance competition. One pokemon would dance, and the rest would have to try to copy its movements. This would continue until each pokemon had a turn leading the dance. Dawn herself had little experience with dancing, outside of her usual source of entertainment.

After the dancing was the talent show, which was where the theme of a given contest truly came into play. Since Dawn was entering Bridget in a beauty contest, she would have to try to put on a beautiful display. Because she was low on time as it was, she was hoping to figure out a routine while the contest was going on and would explain it to Bridget after the dance round.

Once she had finished her preparations, changed into the dress her Mom had given her, and had her accessories ready, Dawn headed out toward the stage. It was only as she was walking down the dimly lit corridor that lead up to the stage that she realized she had a problem.

_Wait a minute...does Bridget even have any 'beautiful' techniques?_ Dawn wondered. All the techniques she could think of that Bridget had access to were more physical techniques, which were rarely considered beautiful. After thinking about it for a moment, Dawn shrugged. _Well, its not like I have to win this contest. I'm just entering because, for some reason, Bridget wanted to. Wonder if this has anything to do with that other buneary?_

With that, Dawn continued and walked up a small set of stairs, carrying a pink suitcase under her arm which contained her mother's accessories. She opened the grey door at the top of the stairs and stepped through, which lead her out onto a pure white stage. There, she could see the other three co-ordinators lined up in front of a red curtain that blocked them from the audience's view.

Dawn didn't recognize any of the co-ordinators, with the exception of the blonde-haired girl she had met earlier. The other two consisted of an elderly gentleman in a black suit, who had an eevee with him, and a woman in a pink dress carrying a parasol. Her pokemon was a jigglypuff. The girl Dawn had met before was wearing a sundress and a straw hat, entering with her flareon as Dawn figured she would.

The girl smiled at her as Dawn and Bridget took up position next to them and waited for the contest to start. Shortly after, a tall, white-haired man wearing a bowtie arrived backstage from a door on the opposite side. He quickly looked at each co-ordinator to discern whether or not everyone had arrived and then nodded to himself and clapped his hands together.

"Alright everyone, listen up!" the man said. "I am Dexter, the contest's head judge. We'll be starting in about a minute. You have until then to get your pokemon dressed up for the show. The theme for this contest will be nature. Good luck, everyone!" With that, Dexter turned and left, and everyone immediately began digging through their accessory kits.

"-Wait, hold up, I wasn't informed I'd be getting dressed up!-" Bridget said as Dawn kneeled down and opened the pink suitcase she had brought. Growling, he turned to the blonde-haired girl and tugged on her dress. "-Hey! You! You can understand me! Do something about this!-"

"Sorry, it's part of the contest!" the girl said apologetically. She, unlike Dawn, only had a small bag with a handful of accessories and seemed to be having a hard time deciding on what accressories to use.

"Hey! I bet this will look good!" Dawn said as she pulled a yellowish feather out of the case. "Here, hold this," she then said to Bridget as she handed it to him. Bridget didn't seem at all impressed. "Now if only that feather gave you the ability to fly," Dawn mumbled to herself before going back to searching for more accessories that might be considered 'natural'.

_Oh I am so not liking this whole 'contest' deal_, Bridget thought bitterly.

By the time Dawn was done, she had equipped Bridget with four more accessories. He had a thin mushroom in his other hand, to compliment the feather. A horn and a leaf were strapped to his head, the horn in the middle and the leaf standing up behind it. Dawn had decided that it looked cool to her. Finally, she finished it off by dumping the glitter powder on him. Bridget was even less impressed with this.

"Ok! Looking good!" Dawn said excitedly after dumping the powder on him. Hearing the curtain moving behind her she quickly turned around and clasped her hands in front of her. "Just in the nick of time, too," she said.

"Ladies and gentlemen, without any further ado, let's get this show underway!" a male announcer's voice sounded throughout the contest area. The crowd gathered cheered as the curtains pulled away to reveal the four co-ordinators and their pokemon. Rows upon rows of bleachers were set up behind the judges' stands and Dawn spotted her mother in the front row. The judges consisted of Keira with her buneary, Dexter, and a young, blonde-haired boy in a fancy blue suit named Jacob.

"First up is Robert, who will be entering with his eevee, Milly!" A spotlight shone down on the old man and his eevee. The old man folded his hands behind his back and bowed. The eevee had a white beard on its face and white fluff on its head to look like grey hair. The judges wrote something down, but didn't seem too impressed.

_That display didn't look natural at all_, Dawn thought, looking from the corner of her eye.

"Next we have Cassandra and her jigglypuff, Bubbly!" The spotlight moved next to the woman with the parasol. She smiled and turned around, spinning her parasol. Her jigglypuff, holding a parasol of its own with a buncha puff stuck to its head followed suit. The judges seemed like they had to consider the display for a moment before writing down a score.

"And next, Rina, entering with her flareon, Felicia!" The spotlight shone next on Rina, who had to force a smile. Her flareon was looking a bit upset compared to the happy expression it had when Dawn saw it earlier. Felicia's accessories consisted of glitter powder, a round pebble on her forehead, and a bow around her neck. The judges didn't seem to be at all impressed.

I like the forehead gem thing, but that doesn't seem like a natural look at all, Dawn thought when she saw Felicia. I might actually have this first round won! she then realized, trying not to smile.

"Finally, Dawn, entering with her buneary, Bridget!" As the spotlight finally came upon her, Dawn let her smile show as a gesture to the crowd. Though Bridget had an incredibly sour look on his face as he stood holding out the feather and mushroom at his side, the judges seemed to react fairly favorably. The buneary that stood on Keira's stand with her was giving him an odd look though.

_Yeah, just as I thought, I look ridiculous like this!_ Bridget thought, gritting his teeth. _I can't even say anything to her from here! This is pointless!_

"Now that we've introduced the co-ordinators and seen their pokemon, we'll move on to the dance round!" the announcer called out. The crowd applauded and upbeat, energetic music began to play over the loudspeaker. "Dance order will be the same as the introduction order! Robert and Milly, start us off!" Milly the eevee stepped forward, head moving from side to side in time with the music. The other three pokemon lined up behind her while their trainers all stepped back.

_Guess this is it then, just have to hope Bridget holds up for this round_, Dawn thought. For the dance round, the trainers would only be watching.

For the first round of dancing, none of the pokemon had trouble following along. Milly's movements were fairly easy to follow as she was making rather slow, deliberate gestures and generally moving only side to side. Bridget especially found it easy and followed the movements almost effortlessly.

When Milly's turn was over she quickly slid back to where the other pokemon were and Bubbly hopped into her place. Bubbly moved much more energetically than Milly did, and both Milly and Felicia had trouble keeping up with her pace. Bridget still wasn't having any trouble, but did find he actually had to focus a bit more. Bubbly ended with a dash forward and a flip back through the air to return to her original spot.

_Geez! It's like they're not even trying!_ Bridget thought, mentally comparing the movements of his competition with the moves Dawn had been showing him earlier.

After Bubbly moved back into her place, it was finally Felicia's turn. Felicia started off by standing on her hind legs and dancing from side to side, much like the previous pokemon had been doing. Again, this was fairly easy for everyone to follow, but a jump, followed by a quick move forward and a jump back as Bubbly had done, threw Milly and Bubbly off balance. Felicia herself nearly tripped at the end, though.

At last, it was Bridget's turn next. He eagerly moved into place as Felicia stepped back. He was actually looking forward to showing up the rest now. Before starting, he turned to the group of pokemon. "-Are you ready?-" he asked, holding his feathers high in the air and waving them back and forth. The three pokemon looked at Bridget in confusion.

"-Three! Two! One! GO!-" Bridget quickly turned to face the audience and started dancing, moving back and forth but moonwalking while doing so and waving his arms around. Bubbly was the first to go down, tripping and rolling like a ball when Bridget suddenly reversed direction. After going each way once, Bridget spun around and then jumped forward while making a punching motion with his ears, followed immediately by a straight hop back. Attempting the first jump caused Milly to fall flat on her face and the second jump was too sudden for Felicia to follow through causing her to fall on her behind. At the end, only Bridget remained standing with a smug look on his face.

"-That's right! I'm the king of dance!-" Bridget proudly declared, the music coming to an end once Bridget's dance round was done. Noticing the female buneary clapping her hands, Bridget winked at her. _Maybe there's something to this contest stuff afterall_, he thought.

"Well...uh...looks like that's it, folks! Though it's not my call, I think this round's winner is quite clear!" the announcer said. The audience applauded Bridget's efforts.

_You know, I realize this is a normal rank contest, so everyone here is a beginner, but this is ridiculous!_ Dawn thought in disbelief, looking around at the other contestants. _I taught Bridget moves from some of the best dancers on my DS but in the end that was just overkill..._

"Now then, let's move on to the final round! I would ask that all other contestants but Robert and Milly make room for the talent portion of the contest!" The audience applauded again and all the trainers and their pokemon, except for the old man and his eevee, moved to the side of the stage for the performance. Dawn moved toward the side she entered from and made sure she was out of sight, whereas Rina and Cassandra were still on stage and watching the performances.

"Ok, Bridget, I've been thinking about our strategy and I've come up with a solution to your lack of beautiful techniques!" Dawn said to him. "After looking at the pokedex, I've noticed one move you haven't used that I think could win this for us!"

"-Oh, this is only going to be overkill,-" Bridget said, rolling his eyes. "-There's only one talented pokemon on this stage. And that's me.-"

While Dawn explained the strategy to Bridget, Robert and Cassandra's pokemon made their appeals. Robert's eevee, Milly, tried winning over the audience with her cuteness. She wagged her tail at the judges before acting as though it had gotten her attention and then chased after it, running around in circles. After catching it in her mouth and falling over, she gave the judges a pitiful look and growled cutely. It was a heartwarming display overall, but not one that fit the theme of the contest and thus failed to get much attention from the judges.

Cassandra went next with her jigglypuff. Bubbly took to the stage and started off by using Ice Beam, firing a blue beam from her mouth while twirling her parasol. The beam was aimed at the floor and rose up, forming into a fairly large block of ice. She then proceded to pound away at the ice, chipping pieces off until an ice sculpture stood in the image of her trainer. The judges applauded her performance and Bubbly seemed rather pleased with herself as she left the stage.

Rina and Felicia moved into place next, by which time Dawn had finished discussing her strategy with Bridget. Before beginning her performance, Felicia let out a small blast of flame to melt the ice that Bubbly had left. Once the ice was gone, Felicia took her place.

"Ok, we didn't do so great in the last two rounds, but we'll make up for it here!" Rina announced. "Felicia, jump and use Fire Blast!" Felicia nodded and jumped straight up into the air, turning over to point her mouth toward the floor. A small fireball shot out from her mouth, expanding slowly and then forming 'arms' and 'legs' so it almost resembled a stick figure. The audience gasped, thinking for sure that it would destroy the stage.

"Don't worry! We've got this!" Rina called out to reassure them. At that moment, Felicia suddenly threw herself downward in a quick attack and nearly caught up with her own flame. Felicia and the Fire Blast hit the floor at nearly the same time, activating Felicia's Flash Fire ability. The fire was absorbed by her body, causing the flames to surround her and the glitter powder in her fur sparkled brightly under the fire.

"An impressive display indeed!" Dexter said, all three judges applauding Felicia's performance. "The glitter powder was certainly a nice touch as well."

_I didn't even think about that part_, Rina thought, blushing slightly. "Ok! Good job, Felicia! You'll have to go into your pokeball now, though." Rina then took out Felicia's pokeball and moved out of the way so Dawn could make her appeal.

_That last display probably got a pretty good score from the judges, but Bridget's probably won the last two rounds anyway_, Dawn thought, feeling pretty confident as she stepped out onto the stage with Bridget. Bridget finally looked like he was fired up as well.

"Ok, Bridget, let's make a big finish! Start by propelling yourself into the air!" Bridget hopped up and landed on his ears and bent them back like loaded springs, then thrust them back out with all his frustration to propel himself straight up. Bridget was able to get himself pretty high up with the technique, but realized something shortly after.

That technique just now...am I imagining things, or was I unable to get as much power into it as usual? he thought as he reached the apex of his jump and neared the ceiling. Must be my imagination...

"Now! Jump Kick!" Dawn called out. As he was already in the air, Bridget instead braced himself as he neared the ceiling and used his kick to push off from it and propel himself back down to the floor head-first.

"Time for the finisher! METEOR DIVE!" The attack name Dawn called out earned a lot of odd looks from everyone in the contest hall, but Bridget followed through without a second thought. Flames began to form around his ears in what would normally be a Fire Punch attack, but he then began to spin around. The flames swirled around him like a drill until he struck the floor, where they spread out in every direction in a wall of fire and dispersed into the air. When the flames cleared, Bridget was standing in the center with his arms crossed in front of him.

"Well, that was certainly an...uh..." Dexter cleared his throat before he continued. "Interesting display. Your opening was far too aggressive, but the finish was beautifully done." Keira and Jordan nodded in agreement. Bridget himself wasn't interested in any of the judges' impressions, though. His gaze was focused squarely on the other buneary, who seemed quite impressed with his technique even if it was more a show of brawn then beauty.

"In any case," Dexter continued. "We will now announce the results. All co-ordinators, please come out on stage with your pokemon." The rest of the co-ordinators moved out onto the stage alongside Dawn with their pokemon. Once everyone was on stage, Dexter announced the placings.

"Placing fourth was Milly, who's trainer seems to have mistaken this for a cute-themed contest."

"Cute, beautiful, what's the difference?" Robert grumbled stubbornly.

"In third place was Rina and Felicia," Dexter continued. "There was some potential there, but you were quite rough around the edges."

"I need more accessories for next time," Rina admitted sheepishly. Felicia nodded in agreement.

"Second place was...Cassandra and Bubbly," Dexter said, looking toward the two. "You did well overall, but could have done without the parasol in the opening. You were quite soundly outpaced by Bridget in the second round and did not do enough to catch him in the final round." Cassandra scowled, though Dexter seemed to be the object of her ire rather than Dawn and Bridget.

Upon hearing who was in second, Bridget's ears suddenly stiffened. "-Wait! You mean I really...-"

"Finally, in first place was Dawn and her buneary, Bridget," Dexter announced. "Very good performance overall, but your talent routine seemed to focus more on toughness than beauty."

"Maybe an Ice Beam attack or something would have helped," Dawn mumbled.

"Overall, good job everyone! Let's hear it for our co-ordinators!" Dexter began clapping and the audience followed suit, applauding all of the co-ordinators. During the applause, Keira handed a ribbon to her buneary, which she then went up onto the stage to hand to Bridget.

"-Umm, hey, sorry about before,-" she said after handing the ribbon to him. Bridget quickly shook his head.

"-Like I said, don't worry about it!-" he said, grinning. "-But I didn't even get to introduce myself back then. My name's Bridget.-"

"-It's nice to meet you, Bridget!-" the female buneary replied, smiling. "-You were amazing just now!-"

_I don't need to know what those two are saying to understand what's going on_, Dawn thought, smiling to herself when she saw the two. _I can't believe Bridget actually found someone he liked. I wonder if her name's Dizzy by any chance?_

Dawn wasn't the only one to notice that Bridget and Keira's buneary seemed to be getting along. Her mother took notice as well. When all the other co-ordinators had left and the crowd in the audience dispersed, she walked up to the stage and approached her daughter.

"You did surprisingly well for your first contest, but it was easy to see you and Bridget were both out of your element compared to professional co-ordinators," Joanna said to her.

"That's because we're not professional co-ordinators..." Dawn mumbled in response.

"In any case," Joanna continued. "I have a proposal for you." Her mother paused for a moment, leaving her comment hanging in the air, then said to her, "I would like for you to leave Bridget with me."

Dawn blinked in disbelief and, overhearing Joanna ask this, Bridget turned and looked at her curiously. Normally giving up a pokemon that didn't seem to get along with her would be a no brainer, but Dawn had still grown to rely on Bridget in a pinch.

_I know why she's asking me this, it's because of Keira's buneary_, Dawn thought, looking toward the two pokemon. _But...I don't really know...could I get by without Bridget? _Dawn was going to need some time to seriously consider this.

* * *

Author's Notes: Probably not that big of a cliffhanger, but either way next chapter will still be in Hearthome. I didn't want to just cover the contest and go anyway, even though this likely won't be Dawn's only stop in Hearthome.

For anyone that's been reading since Legends in Hoenn...well, first, off, sorry. Some of the earlier chapters, at the very least, weren't my best. Second, you might remember I used the anime contests back then. They seemed more interesting to write, but this time I wanted to try to stick more closely to the in-game contests. I think writing anime-style contests is better, and thus probably why the "talent" portion still looked more like the appeal portion from the anime contests, but I don't think this turned out too badly. Then again, that's up to the readers to decide.

Anyway, tune in next week for the dramatic conclusion of All My Bunearys. Or maybe Trainer Matters.


	14. Chapter 14: Everything Changes

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 14**

**Everything Changes  
**

"Dawn! Hey! Are you listening to me?" Melany snapped her fingers in front of the girl's face, finally snapping her out of the daze she seemed to be in. Melany stood back and sighed. "Look, I don't have much time. If Lucas found out we haven't left for Snowpoint yet..."

"Sorry..." Dawn mumbled in response, gaze still on the two buneary sitting nearby. "I just can't decide..."

A day had passed since Dawn's contest and everyone had managed to meet up the night before. After Melany and Rina had finally managed to meet up, Lucas went off on his own toward Veilstone City. Dawn and her mother spent the night at Keira's place in the northern end of the city, while Melany and Rina stayed at a hotel.

Today, they had all met up again at the southern outskirts of Hearthome so Melany could give Dawn a bit more advice before heading north with Rina. Keira, Joanna, and Rina were sitting with the two buneary and Rina's Pikachu, Pippi, was with Rina as she usually was. Bowser was with Dawn, ready to do some training, but Dawn was too distracted by the request her mother had made the day before.

Melany followed Dawn's gaze and looked back at the two buneary. "That's your strongest pokemon, right? The pink...buneary they're called?" Melany asked. Dawn nodded. "Worried you might be vulnerable if you leave your strongest pokemon behind?" Melany asked as she turned to face Dawn again.

Dawn nodded. "I have enough trouble with Dusk as it is and I'm definitely going to run into her again. Bridget's pretty good at beating up ghost-types because of Foresight and Frustration."

"-You could say I have the foresight to attack ghosts with all my frustration!-" Bridget called out and then snickered to himself. With his large ears he was able to overhear everything the two girls were saying. Keira's buneary giggled at Bridget's sense of humor while Rina and Pippy shook their heads.

Bowser shook his head. "-Bad pun. Very bad.-"

I'm going to ignore the fact that she's relying on a pokemon that obviously doesn't like her, Melany thought when Dawn mentioned 'frustration. "Well, in any case, mind if I take a look at your pokedex to see what you have to work with?"

"There's only one pokemon I don't have with me, though," Dawn replied as she took out her pokedex. She scrolled through the list of pokemon using her touch screen until she reached the entry for vespiquen and then handed it to Melany. "It's one of those."

Melany looked at the pokemon being displayed and blinked in disbelief. "This? But it looks pretty strong, why keep it in storage?"

Dawn rubbed the back of her neck and smiled sheepishly. "Well, last time I let it out of its pokeball, it tried to kill me." This revealation got the attention of everyone present, but especially Joanna's. Joanna suddenly shot toward the girls and grabbed the pokedex out of Melany's hand to see what pokemon it was.

"What are you doing keeping this thing around if it's so dangerous!?" Joanna angrily demanded, holding out the pokedex and pointing her finger at the pokemon on screen. "You should have released it the first chance you had!"

Dawn nearly fell back as her mother suddenly yelled at her. It wasn't something Dawn was used to hearing from her, even with how disagreeable the two seemed to be. "W-well I...I just didn't think about it..." Dawn replied nervously.

"I think you're being a little hasty there," Melany said, putting a hand on Joanna's shoulder before she could say anything else. "Afterall, we have a negotiator with us today." Melany jerked her head back toward Rina. Rina looked around and then nervously pointed at herself.

"M-me?" she asked.

"Well, know anyone else that has an innate gift for understanding pokemon?" Melany said to her. Rina gulped nervously and shook her head.

"-Don't worry, Rina! I'll be there to protect you!-" Pippi said in an attempt to reassure her trainer.

"You were there when that Ursaring attacked, too," Rina reminded her. Pippi's ears drooped when she recalled the memory.

"Rina, with all of us here do you really think anything will happen? I mean, let's be serious here..." Melany gestured toward Dawn. "She managed to catch it, afterall."

Rina blinked and then looked at Dawn. "Oh. Guess you have a point there."

Bowser frowned and glanced over at Dawn as well. "-In a way, they're insulting both of us...-"

"I know how you feel, Bowser, but compared to most of the trainers we've been running into..." Dawn left her sentence hanging in the air. Bowser, of course, knew what she was saying. Dawn had encountered many trainers that were stronger than her. Lucas seemed more skilled than her, though only having a piplup, Barry beat her in battle, as did Dusk. She was pretty sure Marcus was stronger than her, as well as the girl she ran into at Roark's gym. Melany was much stronger and, though she didn't know it during the contest, Rina was on the same level.

With so many strong trainers around, I'm definitely starting to feel like I need to get stronger. That's why I don't think it's a good idea to give up Bridget. Dawn glanced toward Bridget. He and the other buneary seemed more interested in talking to each other than paying any attention to her, though Keira seemed curious. But, Elincia seems strong too, so if she'll listen to me...

Dawn nodded and suddenly stood up. "Ok, so should I go get Elincia?" she asked. Melany and Rina nodded to her. Joanna bit her lip and remained silent. Even knowing her daughter would be in capable hands, it was only natural that she would be worried. The decision had been made, though, and soon enough the group was heading toward the pokemon center.

* * *

After arriving at the pokemon center, Dawn went to the PC and made a quick swap, trading out Captain Falcon in exchange for Elincia. After swapping pokemon, the group headed toward the contest hall to make the negotiation attempt. The hall was surrounded on either side by a large field, which was going to be good enough for what they were doing.

"So, no problems with me leaving then?" Melany asked Rina once everyone was ready. Rina quickly shook her head.

"Nope! If it's a flying type, Pippi definitely won't have any trouble!" Rina replied. Pippi enthusiastically nodded in agreement.

"-That's right! I bet it couldn't even take one Volt Tackle from me!-" Pippi said, sparks shooting out of her white cheeks. Though it was an unusual color for a Pikachu's cheeks, everyone present knew what that meant except for Dawn. Dawn just thought it to be a different color for a Pikachu similar to how Bridget had pinkish fur instead of the usual brown of a normal buneary.

"Ok. I'm heading over to the gym then. There's something I want to do there," Melany said. "I shouldn't be too long, hopefully. In any case, good luck!" Melany then waved and headed off toward the gym. After she was gone, Dawn took a pokeball in each hand and looked toward Rina. Far off behind Rina was where Joanna, Keira, the two buneary, and Bowser were. Bowser would be sitting out due to his disadvantage against Elincia.

"I'm ready when you are, Dawn!" Rina said to her. Dawn nodded and swallowed nervously.

"Ok then! Here it comes!" Dawn yelled, holding out her left hand first and pointing it far away from her. "Elincia! Come on out!" the pokeball opened in Dawn's hand and out came Elincia, appearing only a few feet away from Rina and Pippi. Almost immediately after, Dawn held out the second pokeball. "Conker! You too!" she said, releasing the electric pokemon almost directly in front of her.

"Excuse me!" Rina said to Elincia. Elincia turned away almost immediately, though, and paid her no attention. Spotting her target, Elincia raised her claws and flew toward Dawn.

"-FOOL! I shall make you regret freeing me from my prison!-" Elincia yelled.

"Conker! Charm!" Dawn called out. Conker looked at Elincia with big, puppy dog-like eyes. The cute expression caused Elincia to hesitate and back away a few feet.

"-Hiding behind your minions?-" Elincia narrowed her eyes at Dawn. "-Then I shall do the same! Larva, to my defense!-" Suddenly, a swarm of what looked like combee but with only one head emerged from Elincia's abdomen. The combee larva formed up on Elincia, shielding her with their bodies.

"-Rina! Shouldn't we be doing something about this!?-" Pippi asked, pointing frantically at Elincia. To her surprise, Rina shook her head.

"No...I don't think so. I could be wrong, but the way that pokemon is behaving is like it sees Dawn as a rival somehow," Rina said to Pippi. "I'm only guessing here, since I have no clue what this pokemon is, but I think I understand why its attacking Dawn." Rina paused for a moment and then suddenly ran toward Dawn.

Pippi gasped in shock. "-Rina! Be careful!-" she called out before running after her trainer. Rina ran beside Elincia as she moved toward Dawn, testing her theory in a way. As Rina had expected, and to the surprise of everyone else present, Elincia did little more than glare at Rina as she ran past. Pippi ran alongside her after catching up and both stopped next to Rina.

"Rina?" Dawn blinked at her. "What are you..."

"Excuse me! But could you please tell me why you're trying to attack Dawn?" Rina called out to Elincia.

"-That is none of your concern!-" Elincia shot back, bearing her claws. "-If you will side with her then you are just another of her minions to me!-" Elincia moved toward the two girls to attack, but Conker quickly moved to put himself between them. Annoyed, Elincia started clawing furiously at Conker and he endured every hit.

"Well that didn't work," Rina mumbled, then turned to Dawn. "Did you do anything to upset her maybe?"

"I don't think so, though I guess I did catch her by surprise," Dawn said to Rina, eyes focused on Conker and Elincia. Conker was taking hit after hit and slowly being pushed back, but Dawn was making no move to stop it. "One of my pokemon went off alone and ended up battling it, and when I finally caught up I had Conker attack and then used a pokeball."

"-It was you!? Then I will show no mercy!-" Elincia growled, her attacks striking Conker much more vigorously now. As one of her claws hit him, though, she felt a jolt of electricity go through her body and paralyze her muscles. She immediately dropped to the ground. "-No...not this again! I refuse to be defeated like this again!-" Elincia weakly extended a claw toward Conker, stopping mere inches from his face as she couldn't reach any further.

"-It'll be my win this time, too! I wasn't taking those attacks for nothing, you know!-" Conker said to Elincia. Now that she had stopped attacking, she could see the white glow radiating from Conker's body. He had been using Bide the whole time, absorbing the energy from her attacks until she had triggered his static ability.

"I get it now, I was wondering why you weren't calling out any attacks," Rina said to Dawn.

"Well, it seemed like a good way to counter a stronger opponent," Dawn replied sheepishly, then turned to Conker. "Conker! Fire now!" Conker nodded quickly and unleashed the stored energy in a white burst that completely engulfed Elincia. The energy spread out in a cone shaped burst, reaching halfway from where Conker stood to where Keira, Joanna, and the two buneary were, before finally dissipating. Elincia was down and the larva that had been protecting her lay scorched on the ground.

"Wow, Joanna, I think your daughter might be a better trainer than you!" Keira said to Dawn's mother, snickering at her.

"Well, when it comes to pokemon training, she seems to take after her father," Joanna replied with a slight smile. "But when it comes to contests, she can't come anywhere near my level yet."

"-Huh? We did pretty good yesterday!-" Bridget said indigantly. Keira's buneary giggled at him.

"-Silly. You did fine, but you and Dawn don't even come close to Joanna!-" the buneary said to him. Bridget blinked at her, then looked at Joanna curiously.

_Come to think of it, even though Joanna was raising me instead of her daughter, I have no idea what her and her pokemon are really capable of_, Bridget thought to himself.

"-So the mother is a contest star and the daughter is...-" Bowser blinked and looked across the field. "-I...I don't know what to say she is. It's almost as if she trains pokemon...casually, even though she's suddenly gotten serious about it yesterday...-"

"Dawn, that was great and all, just one problem," Rina said, eyes narrowed when she turned to face her. "We were supposed to be negotiating."

"Oh...right..." Dawn let out a nervous laugh. "Well, umm, I guess you could call this aggressive negotiation?" Just then, they heard a low groaning as Elincia started to stir. "Oh, looks like she's not out yet anyway."

"-This thing's pretty strong, but I bet I could take it out in one more move!-" Conker said eagerly, sparks shooting out from his cheeks. He didn't attack, though, as he was waiting for Dawn to make the call.

"-Hmph. I didn't even get to Volt Tackle anything,-" Pippi said, snapping her fingers in disappointment. Noticing Rina was walking toward Elincia now, Pippi quickly ran to catch up with her.

"Feel like talking now?" Rina asked her. Elincia looked up at her with a defiant expression and Rina sighed. "If you try to fight, you can't win with the way you are now. And you were beaten from full strength already, so..." Elincia looked at the two electric pokemon, narrowed her eyes at them, and then looked back to Rina.

"-You seem to understand us somehow. Very well, you wish to know why I intend on killing that girl?-" Elincia asked. Rina nodded, frowning at the pokemon's bluntness. "-In the wild, I am the leader of my swarm, and the only leader. If another combee were to evolve, it would be a fight to the death for control over the rest. Having lost my swarm, I will be rid of this girl who captured me and take her minions for myself!-"

"That's what I thought more or less," Rina said quietly, nodding, then turned to Dawn. "Ok, so basically, she sees you as a rival...queen I guess, and wants to take over your 'swarm' since you took her away from her own."

Dawn blinked. "That's it? But my pokemon would just fight her anyway. I mean, Bridget would probably pound her to dust if she thought she was going to be able to control him like that..." Hearing Dawn say that, Bridget rolled his eyes. To him, she was practically doing that as it was.

"-Oh, you would NOT want to mess with me if you did anything to hurt Dawn!-" Conker said to Elincia, balling up his tiny hands like fists and letting sparks fly as a warning.

"-Yeah, pokemon tend to be loyal to their trainers,-" Pippi said to Elincia. "-Well, most pokemon anyway...-"

"-So my resistance is futile is what you're saying?-" Elincia glared at the group and flapped her wings, slowling rising off the ground. She released pheremones from her body that caused the downed larva to get up and quickly return into her abdomen to recover. "-Even so, I would rather spend an eternity sealed in one of those pokeballs than follow orders!-"

"She's being really difficult..." Rina mumbled. She shook her head sadly and looked back at Dawn. "She says she would rather stay locked up in a pokeball than listen to a trainer."

"Ok. Guess we're going with that, then." Dawn then took Elincia's pokeball in hand, preparing to recall her.

"-Wait! No, I-" Elincia's protest was cut short as a red beam from the pokeball struck her, de-materializing her and pulling her into the pokeball. Dawn clipped the pokeball back onto her belt and then took Conker's pokeball in her hand.

"Conker, Elincia probably hit you pretty hard, so you should rest up in your pokeball," Dawn said to him. Conker nodded to her in agreement before she recalled him and placed his pokeball back on her belt.

"Well so much for negotiating," Rina said disappointedly. "Maybe she'll change her mind eventually, but I don't know. Anyway, what now?" she asked Dawn. Dawn shrugged.

"I don't know. Train Jax, Bowser, and Bahamut I guess," Dawn replied, taking another two pokeballs from her belt. Overhearing this, Bowser quickly ran up to Dawn just as she was releasing her other two pokemon. "Ok, you three umm...run laps or something until Melany gets back. She probably has something planned," Dawn said to the three of them. The pokemon looked at each other in confusion, then took off to run around the edge of the field. Letting out another sigh, Rina and Pippi walked back to the patch of grass where everyone else was and watched in boredom while Dawn trained her pokemon.

Fortunately, Dawn didn't have to wait long. After only a few laps, Melany had finally returned. Dawn saw her coming but nearly lost it when she saw who was with her. Even after all that had happened, it seemed Dawn wouldn't be able to escape him.

"Hey! Dawn! I heard you were training, but this looks like pretty bogus training! They're not even fighting!" Barry said as he approached Dawn alongside Melany.

"Sorry about that, but I thought you'd need a good opponent to test yourself against," Melany said to Dawn when she noticed the sour look on the girl's face. "He just got his third badge, so he seemed like a good enough candidate."

"That's right!" Barry said, taking out his trainer card with three badges on it and showing it off for Dawn to see.

"Swell," Dawn muttered disinterestedly. Her three pokemon, meanwhile, ran up to her as they all finished another lap around the field. They all had their doubts that running was actually helping much and were hoping Barry's arrival meant a chance to battle.

"Wha! You have a gible!?" Barry said in shock when he saw Bahamut run up to Dawn. "That's not fair, someone like you having a pokemon like that! You're not even challenging gyms!"

"Hey! I caught Bahamut fair and square!" Dawn shot back. Bahamut looked at her curiously and shrugged.

"-Well you can hardly blame him for complaining when you have someone like me around!-" Bahamut said, grinning to himself.

"Bah! Nevermind that!" Barry suddenly jabbed a finger in Dawn's direction. "Me and you! Right here, right now! We're going to battle and I'll show you just what someone with three gym badges can do!"

_With the way he talks sometimes, you'd almost swear he was my rival even though we don't even have a common goal_, Dawn thought. To Barry, she nodded and said, "You better not think I'll be a pushover! I'm ready to be serious about it now!"

"Ha! I'll believe that when I see it!" Barry shot back.

_I don't really get what's going on between those two, but as long as Dawn's going to battle Barry I don't care_, Melany thought, shrugging to herself. "Alright, since you only have four pokemon Barry, and Dawn has three with her already, let's make this three on three match with the standard rules." Dawn and Barry nodded in agreement and Barry then moved to the other side of the field so they could battle.

"Joanna, no offense but I'll be beating your daughter today!" Barry said, casting a smug look toward Dawn. Dawn motioned for Bahamut to move out in front of her and Barry quickly drew a pokeball from his belt. "Ok, Buiriko, you'll take this one! Go!" Barry thrust out his hand while pressing the button, releasing Buiriko from his pokeball in an overly dramatic fashion. Buiriko stood with his arms folded in front of him, wearing the same smug expression that his trainer did.

"She might surprise you yet, Barry," Joanna said. Barry glanced back curiously, wondering what she meant by that.

_In a way, those two kinda remind me of Ashley and Gary_, Rina thought to herself, smiling lightly. _Only Dawn isn't as serious as Ashley, and Barry isn't a jerk like Gary was._

_Just you wait, Barry! Today, I'm going to get you back for all the times you kidnapped me! And especially for all the times you didn't give me a chance to pause my game first!_ Dawn thought, grinning to herself as she prepared to call out her first attack. "Bahamut, start with your Dragon Rage attack!"

"-A draconic power dwells WITHIN ME!-" Bahamut cried out, a blue glow forming in the back of his throat. "-TAKE THIS! The burning spirit of a dragon! **DRAGON RAAAAAAAGE!**-" Bahamut opened his mouth wide as he yelled and finally released his attack, a blue shockwave firing out from his mouth and flying across the field toward Buiriko.

_That one seems like a showoff_, Barry thought. As Bahamut was still making his attack, Barry called out his move. "Buiriko, show him your Sonicboom!"

"-Sonic...-" Buiriko started to spin around, the tip of his tail glowing. "-BOOM!-" he then yelled as his tail snapped around with a loud bang. Several white energy blades flew through the air. Buiriko's attack collided with Bahamut's, but the blades cut through without either attack really being affected. Buiriko cried out as she shockwave struck him and knocked him off his feet and Bahamut grimaced and braced himself as the blades struck him.

_With that result, Barry won't stand back and try to attack again, so let's try a different approach!_ Dawn thought, a determined look in her eyes. "Bahamut, Sand Tomb!"

"-Why doncha just stand still for a while!?-" Bahamut yelled at Buiriko. He took a quick bite out of the ground and then breathed out while yelling, "-SAND TOMB!-" The dirt he ate came out in the form of a small whirlwind that hit Buiriko as he was getting up and then swirled around him. Buirko grimaced in pain as the wind and dirt buffeted his body.

"Buiriko, counter with Water Sport!" Buiriko folded his arms and then spun around while releasing water from his mouth. The water swirled around him and mixed with the whirling dirt, eventually negating the attack as it all fell to the ground as mud. "Nice try, but you'll need to do better than that to stop Buiriko!"

"Is that so!? Then how about this! Bahamut, Sandstorm!"

"-Sand...STORRRRRRRRRRRM!-" Bahamut yelled, jumping into the air and spinning around. A blast of sand swirled out from his body, spreading a sandstorm across the field that covered both pokemon. With his Sand Veil ability, it also made it very hard to see Bahamut within the sand.

"Nice try, but I know my dragons!" Barry said smugly. "Buiriko, hit it with a Swift attack and show Dawn that there's no escape from us!"

"-Swift! Strike!-" Buiriko called out, spinning his tail around again. This time, he fired a burst of star-shaped rays that immediately homed in on Bahamut through the blast of sand. Though he could barely be seen, they all heard him grunt when the rays struck him.

"Escape nothing! Everyone knows you can't run from important battles, anyway!" Dawn shot back. "You might be able to hit Bahamut just fine, but how well can you avoid his attacks now? Bahamut, once more with Dragon Rage!"

"-Once more with feeling!-" Bahamut yelled as he jumped straight up into the air. "-**DRAGON RAGE!**-" Bahamut fired a shockwave of draconic power down at Buiriko, catching him off guard and knocking him to the ground. Buiriko was out cold almost instantly.

_So Dawn gets the first win_, Melany thought, standing off to the side with her arms folded to watch the battle. _With the right moves, she might be skilled enough to handle herself without her best pokemon as it is._

"Grr...cheap shot!" Barry said as he recalled Buiriko and then took out another pokeball. "You won't take this one down as easily! Roseriko, go!" Barry thrust out the pokeball and released his pokemon, sending out a frail-looking rose pokemon into the intense sandstorm.

"Bahamut, good job! Get back here for now," Dawn said while Barry was sending out his next pokemon. Bahamut grumbled to himself and reluctantly left the battlefield, moving behind Dawn. "Ok, Jax, you can take this one!" she then said to Jax, looking at him and pointing toward the swirling sand ahead.

"-Jeez, and right into a sandstorm too,-" Jax grumbled. He was as reluctant to head into the battlefield as Bahamut was to leave, but he did so anyway. Jax grimaced when he felt the sand blasting his body.

"Jax, start by using Rock Slide!" Dawn called out. Jax smashed his fists into the ground, loosing several rocks and sending them flying toward Roseriko. Roseriko deftly dodged the first few rocks until a larger one managed to smack right into him. It hit him hard, but she was able to throw it off. He then stood up and smiled, as if the attack meant nothing to him.

"Roseriko, get close and use Grass Whistle!" Roseriko quickly moved forward to ensure Jax would be able to hear him, closing half the distance between them before putting his rose-tipped hands to his lips and whistling. Jax began to feel drowsy almost as soon as the whistling reached his ears and soon dropped to the ground, fast asleep.

"Status effects like that don't seem fair somehow," Dawn muttered to herself. "Especially since they'd always fail if I tried using them..."

"-Do any of us even HAVE attacks like that?-" Bowser asked, looking over at Bahamut. Bahamut snorted and shook his head.

"-Like I would even lower myself to such techniques! A real pokemon looks his opponent in the eye before he delivers the finishing blow!-" Bahamut said.

"Heh! Sleep is going to be the least of your pokemon's worries, Dawn!" Barry said to her. "Roseriko, use Stun Spore while its asleep! Then, use Poison Sting!" Roseriko moved closer still, knowing the sandstorm still surrounding them would sweep up the spores.

Once Roseriko was standing over Jax's sleeping form, he fired a cloud of spores down on him. The spores left Jax's muscles paralyzed, though he wouldn't notice until he was awake. Roseriko then stabbed Jax in the back with one of his roses, striking with a stinger hidden inside. Jax grunted in his sleep when he felt the stab. It was now that the sandstorm around them finally died down, leaving a covering of sand over the field.

"We've got this one in the bag! Roseriko, Mega Drain!"

_Is he awake yet?_ Dawn wondered. "Jax, if you can hear me, use Revenge!"

Roseriko pointed his roses at Jax and started drawing energy from him. While he did, Jax was biding his time and building up strength so he could overcome his paralysis. When Roseriko had drawn away as much energy as he could in one go. Jax then finally moved to attack, darting toward Roseriko while low to the ground, a wild look in his eyes and fist glowing with a dark energy. Jax's fist connected with Roseriko and knocked him back with such force that the sand was blown aside as he flew back. Roseriko kept going until he hit a trash can, knocking it over and losing consciousness upon impact.

"What the hell was with that attack just now!?" Barry yelled in shock. Melany opened her mouth to explain but was quickly cut off by Dawn.

"Simple, when Jax is struck first and uses Revenge, the attack is twice as powerful," Dawn said, smirking. "When you factor that in, it easily makes it stronger than any other attack Jax could use, despite your Roseriko being resistant. Also, when you paralyzed Jax, you activated his Guts ability to increase his power further." By the time Dawn was finished talking, just about everyone was looking at her in shock.

"Who are you and what have you done with Dawn?" Barry asked her.

"Hey! I told you I was taking this seriously!" Dawn shot back.

_Huh. I knew those two were both from Twin Leaf, but it seems they've got more of a history together than I thought_, Melany thought.

"Whatever!" Barry took Roseriko's pokeball in hand and quickly turned to recall him. He then switched with another pokeball from his belt, readying it as he turned to face Dawn again. "Well I won't take this lying down! This is where I make my comeback, so you better be ready! Monriko, I choose you!" Barry pressed the button on his pokeball, sending out his final pokemon. An orange furred monkey pokemon with blue fur over its eyes appeared and hopped around excitedly.

"Jax, here, you can rest in your pokeball. You look like you were poisoned by that roselia afterall," Dawn said to Jax, noticing that he still seemed to be in pain. She took his pokeball in her hand and recalled him, then turned to Bowser. "Ok, I know you're at a disadvantage here, but I think we can still win this. You ready?" Bowser nodded and, without another word from Dawn, moved out onto the battlefield.

"-Oooh! You evolved too!-" Monriko said cheerfully. "-But we both know I'm going to win still!-"

"-Like Dawn said, even if I'm at a disadvantage I can still win. It's not over until one of us is knocked out!-" Bowser replied. Monriko grinned.

"-Ok! Good! This should be fun!-" Monriko said.

"I defintiely won't lose this one! Monriko, Flame Wheel!" Monriko dashed toward Bowser and then hopped into a cartwheel. Flames formed around his body until he looked like a wheel of fire rolling across the field.

"Bowser, quick! Withdraw!" Bowser withdrew into his shell, fully retreating inside only moments before impact. Monriko smashed into him and the flames singed his body, but the impact from Monriko's attack was reduced quite a bit. After hitting, Monriko bounced off and stood in front of Bowser. This gave Dawn an idea.

"Bowser! Fire a Seed Bomb from inside your shell!" she called out. Moments after, several seeds fired out and struck Monriko in the chest. The seeds exploded upon impact and knocked Monriko off his feet.

"Grr! Monriko, get out of there and charge in with Flame Wheel again!"

"Bowser, power up with Curse and fire another Seed Bomb!"

A dark aura surrounded Bowser as he powered up, slowing his body to increase his physical defense and power. Meanwhile, Monriko hopped back onto his feet and then jumped back. With enough distanced now, Monriko flipped into a flaming cartwheel and shot into Bowser. The damage was even less this time, thanks to Curse, but Monriko made sure to hop as he hit so he bounced into the air after. When Bowser fired the Seed Bomb it shot under Monriko and exploded on the ground instead.

"Bowser! Razor Leaf!" Dawn called out quickly. While Monriko was in the air, Bowser shook his body to fire several sharp leaves from the bushes on his back. The leaves struck Monriko just as he was falling back down to the ground and slashed across his body, causing him to cry out in pain and knocking him onto his back as he landed.

"Argh! What!?" Barry pulled at his hair in frustration. "I can't believe we're having this much trouble against a grass type!"

"Hey! I wasn't just bluffing when I said I think I could win!" Dawn said with a smirk. "Really though, if you didn't go with a physical attack to start, this would have been much harder. Bowser excels against physical attacks, afterall."

"If that's the case, we'll just hang back and attack with Ember!" Barry called out. Monriko quickly got up and moved away from Bowser. "Monriko, make sure you're not in his line of fire!" Monriko nodded, moving to the side, then prepared to attack.

"Wrong move! Bowser, time to finish this! Come out and use Seed Bomb!" Bowser emerged from his shell and stood up just as Monriko opened his mouth and shot a fireball at him. Bowser took the fireball to the face, grunting and staggering back from the blow.

As Bowser shook off the attack, a green glow surrounded him briefly and the bushes on his back grew slightly. He then returned fire, launching several seeds at Monriko. The seeds struck Monriko, this time creating a much larger explosion that briefly blocked him from view before he fell to the ground with a dazed look in his eyes.

"WHAT?!" Barry yelled in disbelief. "We lost? No way! Grr..." Barry quickly recalled Monriko, then looked at Dawn and said, "Well that's it! I'm not losing to you anymore!"

"But this is the first time you lost to me," Dawn reminded him.

"And it'll be the only time! Next time we meet I'll be a lot stronger, just you wait and see!" With that, Barry bolted, heading off in the direction of the pokemon center.

"-Wait, you mean I actually won afterall?-" Bowser said, blinking in disbelief.

"Not bad, you beat him without losing a single pokemon," Melany said, placing a hand on Dawn's shoulder as she walked up next to her. "Still, those initial tactics you used would only work against a reckless charge since you can't exactly aim easily."

"Hey, whatever works, right?" Dawn replied, smiling slightly. Soon, everyone else was gathered around her as well.

"You did great, Dawn! With moves like that you could easily take on a gym leader!" Rina said enthusiastically. Pippi nodded in agreement and gave Dawn a thumbs up.

"So then, have you decided?" Dawn's mother asked her. She was referring, of course, to the issue of whether or not she would leave Bridget behind. Dawn seemed to think for a moment before nodding to her mother.

"I have now," Dawn said, then looked at Bridget. "I don't see why he wouldn't want to, but if Bridget wants to stay here with you and Keira's buneary then I don't think I have any room to disagree." Bridget tried to hide a smile when Dawn said that.

"Well, of course, it's not like you'll never see him again anyway," Joanna reminded Dawn. "In fact, anytime you feel like you need Bridget for something, all you have to do is ask!"

"-Do I get a say in that?-" Bridget muttered bitterly.

"I guess now the only issue is that you're down to four pokemon, since Elincia still isn't being helpful," Rina said. "Maybe Melany could give you..." Rina stopped and blinked in disbelief, then looked around. "Did anyone else hear that just now?"

Everyone listened intently and soon became aware of the sound of music playing, along with the odd beeping sound. Dawn immediately recognized the noises as being from a video game, one of her own specifically. The sound even seemed to be coming from her travel bag, which she had left on the ground at her feet. When she reached down and opened it up, she found a small pokemon inside playing her DS.

"Huh?" Dawn blinked, then reached inside to pick up the pokemon. The egg-shaped pokemon dropped her DS as she lifted it out of the bag and immediately tried to squirm out of her grasp to get it. _This must be the pokemon that hatched from the egg_, she thought._ I'd say this is quite the coincidence if I believed in them..._

"Looks like you found a replacement already, go figure," Melany said, blinking in disbelief.

The pokemon in Dawn's arms then suddenly turned to face her and started crying. Realizing what it wanted, Dawn put the pokemon back in her bag. It immediately started playing her DS again, tapping the buttons and screen with the tip of its stubby hands.

"And wouldn't you know it? The hatched pokemon seems to be taking after you, dear!" Dawn's mother said, chuckling to herself.

"Too bad it doesn't actually have hands then," Dawn said, smiling slightly. "I think I'll call this little guy...Eggman." The small egg pokemon looked at her when she said this, then turned back to the game. It was struggling through an RPG that Dawn already had loaded into her DS.

* * *

It took a while for Dawn to get her newly hatched pokemon into a pokeball. After she did, she handed made the exchange at the pokemon center to give Bridget to her mother and added the young togepi to her line-up.

Dawn said her goodbyes after sorting out her pokemon, and then headed toward the southwest edge of the city with Melany, Rina, and Pippi. Melany and Rina would be heading north toward Snowpoint and would be passing through Mt. Coronet anyway, so Dawn was going with them that far on her way back home. However, when they were nearing the exit, Dawn saw something that caught her interest.

"Hey, where does that gate go?" Dawn asked Melany and Rina. Near the western exit was another gate leading south. Melany took out a device known as a pokenav to check her map.

"That just leads south, but following that path would lead toward Pastoria according to the map," Melany explained. "Kinda makes a loop depending on where you go from there. You can head north to Veilstone, then southwest to Solaceon and continue on back to Hearthome from there. Celestic Town and Sunnyshore are just a bit off that path."

"So...it'd be pretty easy to see the rest of Sinnoh from here..." Dawn said, thinking out loud. _I only came all this way to get my house key, but getting here was actually a lot of fun, and even battling Barry today was kinda fun. So maybe it wouldn't be too bad if I travelled around the rest of Sinnoh? I wouldn't mind trying my luck against Dusk again, that's for sure!_

As she thought this, a grin spread across Dawn's face. _Yeah! And if I go to Veilstone, I can buy my games in person for once instead of having to get them delivered by mail! I think I'll do that! Besides, my video games will still be home when I get there._

"So are you coming then?" Melany asked Dawn. Dawn quickly turned and shook her head.

"Actually, I think I'm going to go see the rest of Sinnoh now! I can... uh... see the pokemon back on the other side of Mt. Coronet anytime afteral," Dawn said. Naturally, rather than saying she was going home, she told Melany and Rina that she needed to scan more pokemon back that way and only came to Hearthome to see her mother.

"That's probably the better way to do it, then," Melany said, nodding in agreement. "Well, keep at it then. I'm sure we'll bump into each other again somewhere."

"I don't doubt it! Good luck at Snowpoint!" Dawn replied, then ran off through the southern gate. Melany and Rina sighed in unison.

"Not looking forward to that," Rina mumbled.

"Hoenn was warm. I want to go back to Hoenn," Melany said.

"-Can't be any worse than taking an Ice Beam,-" Pippi said with a shrug.

Just then, the doors of the western gate opened and a Marcus stepped out. He adjusted his shades before approaching the girls. He walked past Melany, but stopped in front of Rina to take a good look at her. Rina blinked when she finally noticed Marcus standing in front of her, but didn't immediately say anything to him.

After a moment, Marcus shook his head and muttered, "Too flat," Then he headed off into Hearthome, leaving Rina stunned.

* * *

Author's Notes: And thus, Dawn has now decided to travel across Sinnoh instead of heading straight back home. She seems to be breaking sequence again, though.

Dawn! You're supposed to be heading to Solaceon next! Don't you remember what happened the last time you tried breaking sequence!?

Oh well. She has a new pokemon now as the egg finally hatched, she beat Barry, left Bridget behind, and made some progress with Elincia. At any rate, a lot's happened these last two chapters. Next chapter I'll aim to have Eggman outside his pokeball a bit more since he only appeared briefly this chapter.


	15. Chapter 15: Tempers Flare!

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 15**

**Tempers Flare!**

"You know, I might want to play that someday," Dawn said, irritated. The young togepi paid no attention to her, not even a squeak. Dawn's DS lie on the ground in front of him while he tapped away at the screen and buttons. He couldn't hold and play it at the same time.

Dawn had stopped for a short rest, heading south along Route 12. Bowser and Eggman were out of their pokeballs with her. Bowser would protect Dawn from any wild pokemon, naturally, while Eggman was out because Dawn was trying to be nice to the newly hatched pokemon. Unfortunately for her, he already seemed to be going through the 'Mine!' phase.

"Great," Dawn muttered, plopping down on the ground and folding her arms. "I'm tired from the walking, and now I can't even play my DS. This sucks..."

"-Little guy doesn't seem to talk much,-" Bowser said. Eggman didn't even take notice as Bowser walked up to him and peered down at the DS screen. Bowser couldn't make any sense of it, though.

"I wonder what a togepi can do anyway?" Dawn took out her pokedex to check, but the first thing she took notice of instead was the number of pokemon she had seen. "Huh? I've seen fifty-one pokemon so far!?" she said in disbelief. Bowser glanced at her curiously for a moment, wondering what she meant by that, then turned his attention back to the game Eggman was playing.

_Fifty-one pokemon seems like an awfully high amount, but I don't see any pokemon here I don't recognize_, Dawn thought while she scanned the list. _Well, except that spiritomb anyway. I wonder when I saw that one?_ Shrugging, Dawn scrolled through her pokedex to the entry for togepi and read over her pokemon's details.

_Alright, according to this, Eggman knows...Growl? Charm?_ Dawn rolled her eyes at the first two entries. _Well those are certainly redundant. What else... _Dawn looked further down the list and blinked in disbelief. _Shock Wave? Water Pulse!? Where did he pick up moves like THOSE from? His genes!?_

Dawn looked at Eggman, pondering. To her, he certainly seemed like he had some potential with the moves he knew. However, he also just hatched, and Dawn wasn't expecting a lot of power from a newly hatched pokemon. She was low on options, though, so her plan of action seemed clear.

_I need to train that togepi somehow_, she thought. _Training him probably wouldn't be too hard, the real problem is getting him to put the DS down and listen to me!_ As Dawn thought this, a sudden revealation hit her that made her frown and let out a sigh. _This must be how Mom felt dealing with me..._

Dawn slowly got up and walked up behind Eggman, then noisily cleared her throat to try to get his attention. When that didn't work, she spoke anyway. "Eggman, how would you like to do some training?" When she asked this, Eggman stopped playing Dawn's DS and looked up at her curiously.

"-Training?-" Eggman repeated in a childlike tone.

"You know what that means?" Dawn asked. Eggman shook his head. "It means you fight Bowser! You know, just like in that game you're playing!"

Eggman looked at the DS, then at Bowser, and started hopping up and down excitedly. "-Battle! Battle!-"

"-Well, you're certainly easy to please,-" Bowser said. He wasn't too concerned about fighting the young pokemon, he'd just take Eggman's attacks and wasn't expecting them to hurt him much at all.

"Alright then! Get into position you two!" The two pokemon nodded and immediately spaced themselves. Dawn considered her DS for a moment, now that Eggman had finally left it behind, but unfortunately was now too busy to do anything with it. _Well, as soon as he's back in his pokeball, that DS is mine again anyway!_ she thought.

"Ok, let's start off by testing those attacks of your's," Dawn said. "Eggman, start with a Water Pulse attack!" Eggman seemed confused at first as it took him a moment to realize what attack Dawn meant for him to use. Finally figuring it out, he pointed both his stubby little hands at Bowser and fired several blue rings. Each ring burst into a splash of water as they hit Bowser in the face. Bowser barely even flinched as they hit him.

"-I can take a water-type attack like that easily,-" Bowser said smugly. Eggman blinked at Bowser's reaction and then, thinking his attack was a failure, started firing off Water Pulse after Water Pulse. The attacks still weren't doing much, but the rapidity of the attacks was slowly forcing Bowser back. "-Hey! That's- -" Bowser tried to protest, but it came out as a gargling noise as another Water Pulse hit him in the face.

"Ok, Eggman, I think that's enough now..." Dawn said, smiling sheepishly. Eggman finally stopped his attack and looked at Dawn curiously. "You've practiced that one enough, how about trying Shockwave next?" Eggman thought for a moment, then nodded.

Eggman held his hands out again, this time firing a wave of electricity. The wave spread out from Eggman's body in a semi-circle, pointing toward Bowser. Bowser winced as the wave washed over him, the previous repeated strikes from Water Pulse leaving him a bit more vulnerable to the electric attack. He was still able to shrug it off easily and Eggman made no follow-up attack this time, having realized Dawn probably only wanted him to attack once.

_Those attacks mix pretty well, but they're still pretty weak and a grass pokemon poses a challenge_, Dawn thought. _It'd be nice if I had a better target. One I'd actually want Eggman to defeat. Dawn thought for a moment while looking around, hoping to spot a wild pokemon._ If she was able to beat it, capturing it would be an obvious bonus. Assuming, of course, it wasn't a pokemon she didn't already have.

"Of course, a wild pokemon isn't going to appear just while I'm standing around," Dawn said, letting out a sigh. "I'd need to, like, go walk through tall grass or something." Dawn looked around for the nearest patch of tall grass that could be hiding wild pokemon, but there didn't seem to be any nearby. She was about to give up hope when she heard Eggman making a fuss. She looked at him and saw him pointing up, then looked up to see a rather large firebird in the air.

"EH!? Where did THAT come from!?" Dawn shrieked, falling back. The pokemon didn't hear her and continued to fly overhead, heading south. Dawn shook her head, recovering from the initial shock, then quickly stood up again. "Come to think of it, that pokemon kinda reminds me of that other giant bird I ran into. The one that beat Bowser in one shot. If I could catch something that powerful..."

After thinking about it for a moment, Dawn quickly pointed at the bird and turned to Bowser and Eggman. "Bowser, Seed Bomb! Eggman, Water Pulse! We're fighting that thing!" Bowser and Eggman were shocked and stared back at her with their mouths open. "I said we're going to fight that thing!"

Bowser and Eggman looked at each other. "-This is crazy, but we better do as she said,-" Bowser said to Eggman. Eggman nodded in agreement and then the two of them aimed up at the slowly retreating bird. They fired their attacks, Bowser launching several seeds from his mouth and Eggman firing rings of water. Eggman's attack didn't even come close as the rings broke apart in the air and fell to the ground. Bowser's seeds kept going, though, and evenally struck the bird's wing and exploded.

"Alright! That got him!" Dawn cheered. The explosion didn't seem to hurt it much at all, though, as the bird's only reaction was to look back and see who had attacked it. Spotting Dawn, Eggman, and Bowser, it tilted its body and started to turn back while descending. Eventually it came in for a landing with a fierce look in its eyes.

"-And what, may I ask, is the reason for this attack? As if I don't already know,-" the fire bird asked them.

"-If you know why, then let's cut to the chase!-" Bowser said in response. The fire bird rolled its eyes.

"Bowser! Eggman! We have it where we want it now, so attack again!" Dawn called out. Bowser and Eggman attacked the fire bird without hesitation, Bowser firing another Seed Bomb at it and Eggman fired another Water Pulse. The bird pokemon shrugged off the seeds that exploded against its body and only winced slightly as the Water Pulse struck its wings.

"-Our attacks are barely hurting this thing!-" Bowser said, grimacing.

"-Maybe we need to level up more?-" Eggman suggested. Bowser looked at him and blinked in disbelief, then shook his head.

Ok, we can't do much to it, but that's fine! Dawn thought to herself. All we need is a better strategy! Hey, I bet its pretty weak to a Shockwave now!

"-My turn,-" the fire bird said calmly. With a flap of its wings, it sent a blast of hot air and flames toward Bowser and Eggman. The two pokemon cried out in pain as the flames washed over them and the fire bird kept flapping to keep the flames on them until they both collapsed. Dawn stared at her two fallen pokemon in shock for a moment but quickly shook her head.

"No! This is the obvious outcome, of course!" Dawn said, clenching a fist. "Eggman just hatched and Bowser is weak to fire! They're the worst choices to battle something like this! I should have been using Conker!"

"-I'm afraid you're not getting that chance,-" the bird muttered. Turning to face toward the south, the large bird flapped its wings and took off again.

"HEY! GET BACK HERE!" Dawn yelled after it. Thinking quickly, she took a pokeball from her travel bag and lobbed it at the retreating bird. The pokeball bounced off and opened up, but the red beam it fired had no affect on the bird pokemon and it continued flying unhindered.

"The pokeball...didn't work?" Dawn said in disbelief. "But...why can't I catch this pokemon? It's a wild pokemon, right?"

"Of course its not a wild pokemon, you nitwit!" Dawn heard a girl's voice saying. She didn't see anyone when she looked around, but heard a rustling noise and then saw a blonde-haired girl wearing black pants and a sweater emerge from the bushes along the side of the route. "That's the legendary pokemon, Moltres, that you were trying to capture!"

"Well that explains why its so powerful..." Dawn mumbled, head lowering slightly but snapping back when she realized who she was talking to. "Wait! Aren't you the one that was challenging Roark that time? What were you doing in the bushes just now?"

"The name's Nina," the girl replied, folding her arms in front of her. "And I definitely wasn't hiding from that pokemon if that's what you're asking."

If you say that, that's exactly what I'm going to think you were doing, Dawn thought, forcing back a knowing smile. "A-anyway, what do you mean its not a wild pokemon?"

"I mean it belongs to someone, what else would I mean by that?" Nina replied. "Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, the three legendary birds of Kanto, were all caught by the same trainer."

_I wouldn't want to have to fight someone like that, then!_ Dawn thought, wincing. _Wait, that electric bird I ran into that time...would that have been Zapdos? If that's the case, then I wonder if that girl I bumped into is the one that caught them?_

"Even if those pokemon weren't already caught, though, they're way out of your league anyway," Nina said to Dawn. "Just what kind of idiot would attack a pokemon like Moltres with just a grass pokemon and a togepi?"

"What?!" Dawn growled and shot the girl a glare. "Like you're one to talk! You were battling Roark with that small bird!"

"And I beat two of his pokemon with that bird," Nina said, glaring straight back at her. "I bet someone like you had to use your grass pokemon to even get that far."

_I...I can't really say anything to that!_ Dawn thought, grimacing. Nina's judgement was dead on. "W-well trying to argue about how strong my pokemon are is pointless, anyway!" Dawn then sharply pointed her finger in Nina's direction and said, "I challenge you to a battle! Three pokemon each!"

"Is that so?" Nina snickered. "Well in that case, you might want to recall those two losers," she said, pointing at Bowser and Eggman.

_What's with this girl? I'd rather deal with Dusk than her!_ Dawn thought to herself as she took Bowser's and Eggman's pokeballs in her hand. Dawn recalled her two pokemon, picked up her DS off the ground to put it back in her bag, and then distanced herself from Nina to give them space to battle. Once they were ready, Dawn called out the first pokemon.

"Jax! Go!" Dawn called out, releasing Jax from his pokeball. The fighting pokemon materialized before her and let out a lazy yawn.

"-Trainer battle, huh? Guess I should get my game face on.-" Jax raised his arms and then slid into a fighting stance.

"Hmph. This one doesn't look that tough," Nina mumbled while taking a pokeball in her hand. "Bruiser!" she called out, releasing her pokemon. A humanoid pokemon with hands like boxing gloves and seemingly wearing a purple tunic appeared in front of Jax, towering over him.

_I don't know what that thing is, but it looks a lot stronger than Jax does_, Dawn thought in dismay.

"Let's see how you stand up against Bruiser's lightning punches then, shall we?" Nina said with a devious smirk. "Bruiser, begin. Bullet Punch." The brown-skinned fighting pokemon nodded and suddenly unleashed a flurry of lightning-fast punches on Jax.

"Jax, use..."

"Mach Punch." In the blink of an eye the flurry of punches ended but was immediately followed by a single punch that caused a loud boom to be heard as it struck Jax. Jax cried out in pain as he was thrown onto his back by the attack. Nina's pokemon didn't stop there, though. Bruiser immediately was upon the fallen fighting pokemon and unleashed another flurry of blows using Bullet Punch.

"Well? What are you going to do now?" Nina asked a stunned Dawn in a taunting tone. "If you can't even beat this combination, you have no chance against me."

_This is nuts! That's the kind of combination I'd counter by button mashing! _Dawn thought, comparing the situation to a fighting game where the AI would usually unleash such an unstoppable combo on an unsuspecting player. _Is there any move I can use to stop this? ...Wait! Maybe..._

"Jax! Vital Throw!" Jax opened his eyes and focused while Bruiser continued to punch him repeatedly. Then, suddenly, he grabbed Bruiser's fist mid-punch and used the momentum to throw Bruiser behind him. The move caught Bruiser completely offguard, leaving him briefly stunned when he hit the ground next to Dawn. It bought Jax enough time to get back on his feet.

"-Nice moves. But a focused counter-strike can beat a flurry of random attacks anyday,-" Jax said to Bruiser, his voice sounding somewhat ragged. Bruiser's combination of Bullet Punch and Mach Punch had already sapped a lot of his strength. Bruiser didn't say anything in response, just got up and glared at Jax.

"Don't be too proud just because you countered that one," Nina said to Dawn. "You're not going to win this now. Bruiser, Thunderpunch!"

"We won't know unless we try! Jax, Revenge!"

Bruiser raised one gloved fist into the air and gathered electricity around it while Jax grimaced and clenched his fist. Though Revenge was an attack that got stronger if the user was struck first, Jax knew he wasn't likely to survive that hit. Jax charged toward Bruiser with an unpowered Revenge attack, while Bruiser charged toward Jax with his electricity-charged fist held over his head.

Bruiser made the first punch, having more reach than Jax, but Jax was able to duck under it and punched Bruiser in the stomach. Bruiser grunted and staggered back, but then lunged at Jax to punch him in the side of the head with his electricity-charged fist. Jax didn't even utter a sound as he was struck, just fell onto his back. Jax was down and Bruiser only looked a little worn out by the fight.

"I can't believe a mere machop was able to even do that much," Nina muttered to herself. "Still, the result remains the same. Your machop just didn't stand a chance against my hitmonchan."

_Hitmonchan? So is that what that weird-looking pokemon was?_ Dawn thought, eye twitching slightly as she looked at Bruiser again. _Seriously! What's with those hands? And is it wearing a dress!?_

"Bruiser, return," Nina said as she recalled her pokemon. She then folded her arms and looked at Dawn impatiently. "Well, what are you waiting for? Send out your next pokemon already."

Guess she's already decided she'll switch, Dawn thought as she took a pokeball in her hand. Well, that's fine, because I just got an idea that I want to try!

"Conker! Come on out!" Dawn said, releasing the electric pokemon at her feet. She then knelt down next to him to whisper something.

_What is that girl up to?_ Nina wondered, narrowing her eyes at Dawn and Conker. _Well, it doesn't matter. She won't beat me with a cutesy pokemon like that._ Nina then took another pokeball from her belt.

"Livewire! Go!" Nina called out, releasing her pokemon. A red beam fired out from the pokeball she held and materialized into a humanoid-shaped pokemon with a yellow body and black lightning bolt patterns all over it. The pokemon growled and slammed its fists together, producing sparks.

Once Nina had released her pokemon, Dawn quickly stood up and stepped back from Conker. "Ok, ready Conker? Let's go, just like we planned! We'll lead off with our ultimate technique! THUNDER HAMMER!" Conker grinned and nodded, sparks shooting from his cheeks and forming around his body as he charged toward Livewire.

"Thunder...Hammer?" Nina's left eye twitched. "That's not even a real attack! Livewire, just beat this one back with Ice Punch!" Livewire raised one hand back as a sparkling dust began to swirl around it. In a flash, ice formed around Livewire's hand. As Conker approached, Livewire thrust its hand forward, smashing Conker in the face as he jumped toward the larger electric pokemon. Conker's Spark attack ended up doing minimal damage to Livewire and instead Conker ended up knocked back to the spot he had started from.

"Conker! Don't give up! Try that move again!" Dawn called out. Conker nodded and charged toward Livewire again, electricity crackling around his body.

"Forget it, you won't beat us like that!" Nina yelled. "Livewire, Ice Punch again!" Ice formed around Livewire's fist again, which he immediately drew back in preparation to strike. Even as Conker knowingly jumped in to perform what seemed to be a useless attack, he still had a grin on his face. It was only after Livewire's fist struck Conker and knocked him back again did Nina notice the white glow around Conker's body.

_So that's the reason for those half-assed attacks! Her pokemon has really been using Bide all this time!_ Nina thought, clenching her teeth. "Livewire, don't let that thing attack! Finish it with Quick Attack, NOW!"

"Conker! Fire now!" Dawn commanded, realizing she had been caught. As Livewire shot forward, Conker released a massive blast of energy from his body. The blast briefly concealed both pokemon from sight, making it difficult to see the result though even Nina felt rather sure that Livewire didn't survive. Sure enough, when the explosion and resulting cloud of dust cleared, Livewire was down and laid only inches from Conker. Conker, on the other hand, was still standing. Livewire had been taken out before even managing to reach him.

"-Phew! That guy was pretty tough!-" Conker said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Cheap shot," Nina grumbled, recalling her pokemon.

_It still worked, and it's definitely something to keep in mind if I have to fight a strong trainer like Dusk again_, Dawn thought. Nina and Dawn both took another pokeball from their belts, Dawn deciding that Conker had taken too much punishment to stand another battle. As she drew a pokeball, though, a flaw with her plan occurred to Dawn. _Wait, does Bide even work on ghost-type pokemon?_

"Stabs! Go!" Nina called out, releasing the only pokemon of her's that Dawn had already seen. Or at least, thought she had seen. The pokemon that had emerged from the pokeball, though, was a much larger bird with brown and white feathers. More noticeably, the bird had a rather large, red beak, which somehow seemed to fit the pokemon's name.

"Conker! That's enough for now! Return!" Dawn called out, recalling Conker with one hand while holding out a pokeball in the other to release her final pokemon. "Captain Falcon, go!" The pokeball in her hand opened and out came her own bird pokemon, Captain Falcon, who seemed just as mismatched against her opposition.

"-Great. Another of these wimps,-" Stabs muttered, rolling his eyes.

Captain Falcon remained quiet for a moment, contemplating her enemy, before replying with, "-You know, I WAS going to just fight this out until I found the first opportunity to escape, but now? Now I'm going to grind you into the dirt. I don't care if I'm insulted, really. I was caught in a lucky pokeball without a battle and have been stuck with this trainer since. I'm beyond pathetic. But I won't stand by idly while you insult my entire species.-" Captain Falcon ruffled her feathers and glared at Stabs. "-For your sake, I hope your trainer brought Max Revive.-"

_I'm sensing a lot of hostility all of a sudden_, Dawn thought, observing the exchange.

"Stabs! Finish this in one move! Drill Peck!" Stabs flapped his wings, lifting off from the ground, while a current of air began to swirl around his beak. He then moved toward Captain Falcon and went into a spin, seemingly turning his entire body into a large drill.

"Captain Falcon, counter with Wing Attack!" Dawn called out, though sounding more than a little unsure of herself in the face of such a powerful-looking attack. Captain Falcon struck out with her wing to block the attack, but it didn't even seem to slow Stabs down. Stabs drilled into Captain Falcon's chest, pushing her back until she dropped to the ground. Stabs kept going, though, and started to come back around for another pass once Captain Falcon was back on her feet.

_Not powerful enough_, Dawn thought, snapping her fingers. "Try blocking with Whirlwind this time!"

Captain Falcon started flapping her wings, aiming toward the ground to create a horizontal twister. Stabs flew straight into this twister as he moved to attack Captain Falcon and seemed to be stopped for a moment. It wasn't long, however, before the spinning air around Stabs caused the winds of the whirlwind to slow down until they stopped entirely. Stabs then kept going and drilled into Captain Falcon's chest again, driving her back until she managed to slip out of his path again. She immediately dropped to the ground, gasping for air. After only the second pass, she was barely hanging on.

"This will be over soon enough. Now that Stabs' evolved into a fearow, there's no attack that can stop him!" Nina said, grinning to herself.

_Isn't there any way to stop that attack!? Anything Captain Falcon uses against it just hurts her instead!_ Dawn thought, struggling to come up with a counter measure against Stabs' Drill Peck. _There has to be some attack with enough power to stop that thing, but what?_ Dawn thought over her dilemma for a moment and smirked when she finally came up with a solution. _Of course! We could use 'that' move!_

"Captain Falcon, use Double Team and fly straight up!" Dawn called out. Captain Falcon quickly got back up, shaking off the pain she still felt to mount this final assault. Using Double Team, she split into four duplicates, and then she and all four duplicates flew straight up into the air.

It wasn't long before the whirling form of Stabs was on her tail, flying straight up behind her and catching up with her in almost no time. He passed through one of the staravia's, causing the image to disappear, then pulled a u-turn to drop back down and attack another. He passed through this one too, however.

"Just what are you trying to do with this technique?" Nina asked Dawn while Stabs was positioning himself under the remaining three images and flying back up again. "All you're managing to do is annoy me."

"That's where you're wrong!" Dawn shot back, then turned her head to the sky. "Captain Falcon, NOW! Dive back down and counter Stabs' attack with Endeavour!"

_That just might work!_ Captain Falcon thought, suddenly turning in the air to dive down toward the approaching Stabs. The remaining images disappeared and a red aura formed around her body as she gathered strength. Then, before she hit, she started spinning around, seemingly mimicking Stabs' technique.

_Endeavour!?_ Nina thought, her previously calm composure changing to shocked disbelief. _But if it uses that technique like that, then both our pokemon will..._

The whirlwind of air around Stabs suddenly dissipated, leaving him completely vulnerable to Captain Falcon's attack. His neck bent back first as Captain Falcon struck him, but then Captain Falcon held back until she could ram straight into Stabs' chest. Continuing her attack, she drove him straight down into the ground and struck the ground with such force that a large cloud of dirt was thrown into the air. When the dust settled, both trainers were covered head to toe, and both pokemon were lying unconscious in a crater.

"...be knocked out," Nina hissed. She quickly took out a pokeball and recalled Stabs, then glared at Dawn. "You, what's your name, kid?"

"I'm Dawn, the trainer who..." Dawn stopped herself mid-sentence and shook her head. "A trainer from Twin Leaf."

"I'm calling this battle here, take that as you will," Nina said bitterly, clenching a fist. "But I'm not going to take this loss lying down. Next time we meet, my pokemon will kick your's to the curb." Nina then started off toward Hearthome, glaring at Dawn as she passed by her.

"Well, I guess that was a draw more than anything," Dawn thought, scratching the back of her head as she watched Nina walk away. A smug smile then crept across her face. "Still, seeing her like that, I feel like this was a complete win for me. And despite what she said, next time my pokemon will be able to take her's on in a straight up fight!"

Dawn then turned and recalled Captain Falcon into her pokeball. When she reached down to clip the pokeball to her belt, she saw all the dirt that now clung to her jacket. "Great. Now I need to find somewhere to rest my pokemon and get cleaned up." Dawn let out a sigh. "I wonder what the chances are of someone living on this route and being willing to let a complete stranger into their home?"

In spite of the odds, Dawn decided to continue on south rather than heading back toward Hearthome. The fact that Nina was heading toward Hearthome was a rather large deterrant on its own. Once Dawn was out of sight, a girl with a camera in her hand hopped down from a tree on the side of the route and stepped out into the short grass.

"I can't believe how well that worked!" the brown-haired girl said, grinning widely. "Letting Moltres fly around got me one picture of a rare pokemon, anyway. And the picture I got of her togepi is definitely better than the other ones I had. Funny she'd try attacking a pokemon like Moltres with a togepi though. The girl chuckled to herself and shook her head. Looking through the pictures she took on her digital camera, she came upon one with Nina in it.

"That's the one that was hiding from Moltres," she mumbled to herself, frowning. "She looks familiar somehow...where have I seen her before?"

* * *

Author's Notes: I'll be honest, part of the idea for the personality of Dawn's togepi came from the Pokemon Special manga. Namely from how Gold's togepi adopted some of Gold's bad habits due to the time spent with him prior to hatching. Thus, Dawn's togepi takes up gaming (or tries to anyway, lack of hands hindering him somewhat there) because Dawn's a gamer.

Well, that's two legendary birds that have made their appearance now. And Nina finally makes another appearance after practically being forgotten since Chapter 4. One might notice a pattern with all of Nina's revealed pokemon so far, too. Wonder if anyone might pick up on a few other things about Nina? Though I doubt anyone will guess the real reason she stayed out of sight when Moltres showed up at this point.


	16. Chapter 16: The Other Pokemon Mansion

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 16**

**The Other Pokemon Mansion**

On Route Twelve, at the southernmost end, stood a mansion that kept its doors open to trainers. The reason for this being the owner's almost insatiable desire to show off his garden, to the point where he would force his butler to obtain cute pokemon to put in the garden at his request. He would claim these pokemon flocked there on their own, but most trainers that knew of the garden knew the truth.

The garden, known as the Trophy Garden, was also open to trainers to catch these pokemon. The pokemon that were imported by the butler were often not only incredibly cute, but also quite rare. It was one of the few places in the world, if not the only place in the world, where the rare pokemon eevee could be caught "in the wild".

After her battle with Nina, Dawn had arrived at this very mansion, still coated in dirt from head to toe from the desparate maneuver Captain Falcon pulled off to end the battle. She had only intended to see the garden for herself and potentially add pages to her pokedex, which she figured she would do seeing as how she was travelling so far anyway. However, before checking out the garden, Dawn ended up talking to the mansion's owner in his study, and the conversation took a surprising turn.

"Oh, my! You are simply filthy!" the mansion's owner exclaimed upon seeing Dawn. "That won't do at all! Please feel free to use one of the guest rooms to get cleaned up."

"Huh?" Dawn blinked in disbelief. "Are you sure that's ok?"

"Of course, of course!" the middle-aged man replied, clasping his hands together. "Just speak with one of the maids and tell them I sent you."

Well, at this point, I don't think I should turn down a free shower, Dawn thought to herself.

After being invited to get cleaned up in one of the guest rooms, Dawn left the study and immediately sought out one of the maids. They didn't even question her when she mentioned it to them, as if it was a common situation. She was then directed to one of the guest rooms on the first floor. She was surprised by what she saw when she opened the door, finding a room that could easily be mistaken for a hotel suite. There was a private bathroom, king-sized bed with a big screen tv in front of it, and even a mini-kitchen.

"I...really wouldn't mind knowing what this guy does for a living," Dawn mumbled under her breath as she scanned the room. "If I ever find out, I'm quitting being a trainer and doing that."

Dawn walked around the room to take a closer inspection. She discovered food and drink in the fridge, most of the drinks being the kind she wasn't allowed to have. She also found a panel on the side of the wall near the bed. Pulling out the panel revealed a tray with six indents. A resortation machine for pokemon. Realizing her own pokemon were still weak from the battle with Nina, Dawn placed each of her pokeballs in the machine and pressed a button on the wall next to it. The machine immediately whirred to life and began to heal her pokemon.

"Is there anything this room doesn't have?" Dawn wondered aloud. Just then, she heard a knock at the door and one of the maids came in.

"I apologize for intruding, miss, but I brought you a change of clothes so your's may be washed," the maid said to her, holding up a maid uniform. "All we have are these spare uniforms, however. Will that be alright?"

"Oh, umm, sure, I guess that's fine," Dawn replied, blinking. The maid nodded and set out the uniform on the bed.

"There will be a basket outside your door for you to leave your dirty clothes in when you are ready. Please enjoy your stay." The maid then bowed to Dawn and exited the room. Once she was gone, Dawn looked over the outfit curiously.

"You know, I'm pretty sure all the maids here were older tha me, so why exactly did they have a maid uniform in my size?" Dawn wondered, the outfit now arousing her suspicion. "I am going to need something to wear while my clothes are being washed, but this is going to cause trouble somehow, I just know it..."

Sighing in defeat, Dawn headed into the private bathroom to take her shower. She left her dirt-covered clothes on the floor of the bathroom while she did and only took a quick shower, being mostly concerned with getting the obvious dirt off. After her shower, she changed into the maid uniform that was brought to her and left her dirty clothes in a basket she found outside her room where the maid said it would be. She then closed the door and sat down on the bed, determined to stay in the room.

"This maid uniform might be an obvious invitation for trouble, but nothing can happen if I stay right here in my room," Dawn said to herself, folding her arms in front of her. After not even a minute of sitting on the bed, though, she found herself going for her travel bag and taking out her DS.

"Well, no reason I should be bored while I'm in here anyway," she said, then sat back down on the bed and started playing one of her games.

After playing her DS for a few minutes, the door opened and a maid stepped inside. It wasn't the same maid as from before, however, and actually seemed a fair bit younger. The maid was carrying a broom and dustpan, as if she were going to clean the room, but then spotted Dawn sitting on the bed with her DS.

"Just what do you think you're doing!?" the maid yelled at Dawn, dropping her broom and dustpan.

"Ehh!?" Dawn dropped her DS in surprise at the maid's yelling. "I was just playing my DS..."

"Well stop slacking off and get out of here this instant!" the maid yelled, pointing one hand toward the door. "No video games while you're on duty!"

"But I..."

"OUT!"

Realizing she had no chance of getting a word in edgewise against the maid, Dawn sheepishly got up from the bed and left the room, taking time only to grab her pokeballs. Once she was out in the hall, she heard the dor get slammed shut behind her.

"I knew something like this would happen," Dawn mumbled, then let out a sigh. "What do I do now? I'm certainly not cleaning anything, that's for sure. I hardly even do that at home..." Thinking over her dilemma, Dawn remembered the reason she came to the mansion in the first place.

"Well, come to think of it, now seems to be as good a time as any," Dawn said to herself. She then headed down the corridor and through the mansion toward the trophy garden. Just after she had left the corridor, the maid from before finally came by her room to pick up her clothes.

* * *

The Trophy Garden is, as far as gardens go, simply massive. On the plot of land the mansion was on, the building itself took up only about a third of it. The garden took up the rest. Spanning the garden as far as the eye could see were a variety of brightly colored flowers, such as the kind grown from berries, large shrubs cut into the shape of popular pokemon like pikachu and piplup, and many small pokemon running about excitedly in the garden.

Something Dawn didn't expect to see, however, was the large number of people gathered in the garden. While she knew the garden was a popular stop for trainers, she didn't expect to see so many there. There were easily dozens of trainers going about the garden. Strangely, Dawn noted, the vast majority of those trainers were girls.

"I don't get it...did I miss a holiday or something?" Dawn wondered and scratched the back of her head. "It can't be normal for there to be so many girls here..." Looking around again, Dawn spotted a young girl in a black and white outfit which seemed like a maid outfit at first glance. "I know, I'll ask her," she said, then approached the girl.

The girl that Dawn had spotted was sitting knelt down at the edge of the garden with a sketchbook in her hand. Dawn stopped only a few feet away when she realized the outfit the girl was wearing was not at all a maid's outfit, but rather a gothic-style dress. She briefly wondered if the girl might be the daughter of the mansion's owner and hesitated for a moment before finally getting up the courage to announce her presence.

"Umm, excuse me?" Dawn said. The girl blinked and looked over at her with a curious expression. "I was wondering if you could tell me why there seems to be so many girls here today?"

"That is...umm..." the girl stammered and then fell silent for a moment, trying to compose herself. "They're here...for the eevees..."

"Eevees?" Dawn asked, blinking. The girl nodded to her and then pointed out toward the garden. Following her direction, Dawn finally look notice of exactly what kind of pokemon were running about the garden. In particular, she noticed a handful of eevees going around. Some of them seemed to be following the trainers gathered in the garden, but strangely the trainers were ignoring them.

"If they're here for the eevees, then why are they ignoring them?" Dawn asked, raising an eyebrow.

"...Shiny," the girl mumbled, lowering her head.

"Shiny?" Dawn repeated questioningly. The girl nodded.

"There's...a shiny eevee here. It has silver fur. Everyone wants to catch it," the girl said, all the while a nearly emotionless look remaining in her eyes.

"...But you're not interested?" Dawn asked her, realizing the girl wasn't making any move to go after the eevee everyone was looking for. "Are you maybe out here just to make sure they don't wreck your father's garden?"

The girl looked somewhat surprised by Dawn's question and quickly shook her head. "No, I don't live here..." The girl then held up her sketchbook for Dawn to see it. A picture of a pink flower with many green leaves had been drawn on the front page. "I came here looking for this," the girl explained.

"That's a pretty good picture," Dawn said to her. _Come to think of it, I used to know someone that drew a lot. What was her name again? I think it started with an M..._

The girl blinked at Dawn and said, "It's nothing special, I merely drew it so I would have it for reference." The girl then withdrew her drawing and bowed her head slightly. "I apologize, I have not introduced myself...my name is Marley."

"M-Marley, huh?" Dawn stuttered, the name striking a chord with her after her recent train of thought. I don't recognize her, or the name, but this is way too much of a coincidence, she thought, then forced a smile. "So, Marley, do you know who I am by any chance?"

"Yes," Marley replied, nodding. Dawn staggered back at the girl's response, expecting a dramatic reveal now. "You are...one of the maids, yes?" Dawn nearly fell over.

_Right, of course she'd think that_, Dawn thought, letting out a sigh.

"...Something wrong?" Marley asked her. Dawn quickly straightened up and shook her head.

"No, I'm fine, you just reminded me of someone I guess," Dawn replied. She was still having trouble believing that it really was a coincidence. _For a moment there I really thought she might have been someone I knew, especially given the timing..._

"Have you by chance...seen this flower?" Marley asked, holding up the picture again. "This garden is big. It's difficult to search it all..."

Dawn took another look at the picture. "Isn't that just a gracidea flower? You can find them all over the place in Floaroma," Dawn said to her. "Anyway, despite how I might look, I'm not actually one of the maids. Long story..."

"I see..." Marley sighed and then slowly stood up. "If that is the case, it seems there was no need for me to come here afterall." After standing up, Marley looked out at the garden again and frowned. "But these trainers...they're..." Marley stopped mid-sentence and lowered her gaze to the ground, worried what she had to say might offend someone.

"Yeah, they are kinda making a mess," Dawn said. Around the garden, there were paths cut through the flowers from where some of the trainers went through in pursuit of the eevee. "I don't get what the big deal is, though. Shiny pokemon aren't all that special. Believe me, I've had one..."

"They're rare..." Marley said, turning her gaze out toward the garden again with an intense look in her eyes. "That's why people want it...especially one with silver fur," she said, though from the intense look Dawn got the feeling that she wanted to say more than that.

"What could we possibly do about it, though?" Dawn shrugged. "There's too many people here to try batting, and it doesn't seem likely that they'd listen to reason if I suggested they just try to catch a regular eevee."

"A battle would only serve to damage the garden further," Marley said to her.

"Err, right, that too..." Dawn mumbled sheepishly. _If this was a video game, something I could be playing right now if it wasn't for a certain maid, I wouldn't have to worry about collateral damage because terrain is usually indestructable. This whole eevee thing is really annoying, though. I wish I could find that eevee and just remove it from the garden!_

Dawn remained silently fuming for a moment before she finally realized what she had just thought of and slapped her hand against her forehead. Right...I can do that. I just need to figure out a way to do it...

"Are you alright?" Marley asked, noticing that Dawn had hit herself.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, fine!" Dawn replied, grinning slightly. "I was just thinking that if we found a way to remove the eevee from the garden then that'd solve the problem, but I'm not sure how we'd even go about finding it..."

"...That would be a problem," Marley said, nodding in agreement. "The eevee does not want to be found now, due to the other trainers. It can move quickly as well. Trying to locate it in the flowers would only cause further damage..."

"Hmm..." Dawn thought for a moment, stroking her chin, and then snapped her fingers. "I've got it! I can use Bahamut!" she said, taking a pokeball from her belt.

"...Bahamut?" Marley asked, watching Dawn curiously as she took out a pokeball from a pouch on the front of her maid outfit and released Bahamut from his pokeball. Bahamut quickly looked around and snapped his fingers in disappointment when he realized he wasn't in a battle.

"Bahamut, I have an important job for you," Dawn said. Bahamut immediately turned around and saluted her.

"-Ready, willing, and able!-" he said, hoping it would be a chance to show off his abilities.

"See that pokemon there?" Dawn pointed to an eevee that was following one of the trainers with a look of disappointment. Bahamut looked at the eevee and nodded. "Well, there's a silver one of those around here somewhere. Everyone is trying to find it. I want you to find it first and then take it somewhere far away from here, but find it without damaging any of the flowers.

Hearing this, Bahamut grimaced. "-I'll do it, but I'm not meant for this kind of subtle work. Gibles like me are supposed to be out on the battlefield, tearing things up!-" Bahamut then turned and nodded to Dawn, letting her know he would do it, then dove into the ground and disappeared under the surface.

"...How will this work?" Marley asked Dawn. "How can it find a pokemon while underground?"

"Easy. While he's down there, Bahamut can still sense where anything on the surface is," Dawn explained, grinning to herself. "So! He can sense where all the eevees are and check them out individually. It'll only be a matter of time before he finds the right one."

"...Hmm?" Marley blinked and looked out toward the garden, watching for any sign of Bahamut. Before long, Bahamut suddenly leaped into the air, clutching a frightened, silver-furred eevee in his mouth. The girls only caught a brief glimpse, as did some of the other trainers, before the eevee disappeared into Bahamut's large mouth. Bahamut then dove back into the ground, leaving the other trainers stunned.

"See? Bahamut didn't have any trouble finding that pokemon at all!" Dawn said to Marley. Just then, Dawn heard one of the girls suddenly start crying and saw her fall to her knees. She couldn't hear what the girl was saying, but one by one the other trainers stopped looking for the silver eevee. "Huh? Are they really that upset about not being able to get that eevee?" Dawn wondered aloud.

"...Actually, umm, I think you should consider the circumstances," Marley said to her. When Dawn gave her a blank look in return, she sighed. "To them, it would seem as if a wild gible appeared and...ate the eevee."

"Oh..." Dawn rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Umm...whoops?"

"Also...why did you not just catch it for yourself?" Marley asked her. "An eevee is still an eevee, is it not?" When Marley said this, Dawn slapped herself.

"I could have used a sixth pokemon, too," Dawn muttered under her breath. "I wonder what the chances are that Bahamut would keep it..."

* * *

Meanwhile, a little further ahead from the mansion on Route 212, Bahamut emerged from the ground and spat out the silver-furred eevee. The eevee was gasping for air by then and its fur was matted in Bahamut's saliva. Once it caught its breath it looked at Bahamut with a sad look on its face.

"-Aren't you going to eat me?-" it asked.

"-Eh!? No way!-" Bahamut shot back. "-I couldn't possibly eat a creature smaller than me! A real gible goes after bigger prey! I was just asked to take you away from the garden.-"

"-...Could you eat me?-"

"-WHAAAAAT?!-" Bahamut cried out, staggering back. "-What is with that suicidal attitude!?-"

"-It's just...-" The eevee sighed. "-My fur causes nothing but trouble. I'm practically a beacon for predators or trainers. And you saw what happened back there, right?-"

"-**DON'T GIVE UP!**-" Bahamut yelled with such force that the eevee was knocked off its feet. "-A real gible...no, a real pokemon faces his problems head on and refuses to back down!-" Bahamut held out his clawed hand and clenched it into a fist. "-You must be willing to FIGHT! Fight back against everything that drags you down! Reach out with your paws and firmly grasp that future that is rightfully your's! No one else has the right to decide it for you!-"

"-I wish I could be that optimistic,-" the eevee mumbled, dropping down onto the ground. "-But what's the use? Nothing I do will make any difference...-"

"-You...FOOL!-" Bahamut yelled while punching the eevee in the face, sending him rolling back. "-You only lose when you give up! You need to FIGHT! Fight until the dirt of the battlefield has coated your body from head to tail!-"

"-...dirt?-" the eevee blinked and then suddenly bolted onto his feet. "-OF COURSE! If I cover my fur in dirt, then it'd be impossible to tell that I'm any different from the other eevees!-" With that, the eevee immediately began digging at the ground and coating his fur in dirt.

"-Err...that's not quite what I meant...-" Bahamut said, then shrugged. "-Well, if that's what it takes to get you going again then so be it! Dig, little eevee! DIG UNTIL YOU'VE FOUND THE SOUL OF THE EARTH!-" Bahamut then jumped into the air and performed a nose dive into the ground, digging his way back toward the Trophy Garden.

* * *

Some time later, back at the trophy garden, the large group of trainers that had gathered there had finally dispersed. All were at least a little depressed as they left, having heard that the silver furred eevee had been eaten. A few caught the regular eevees, but by the time Bahamut emerged from the ground in front of Dawn they were all gone. Only Dawn and Marley remained in the garden.

"-Mission accomplished! This turned out better than expected!-" Bahamut said, saluting Dawn.

"Well you seem to be in pretty high spirits, though I guess that's not unusual for you," Dawn said to Bahamut, smiling lightly.

"I see...it seems your gible got a good feeling," Marley said. Shocked, Dawn immediately turned to face her.

"Hey! Leave the video game references to me!" she said to her. Marley only blinked in confusion. Letting out a sigh, Dawn turned back to Bahamut. "Anyway, good job. Problem solved. Thanks, Bahamut. You can rest now." Dawn then took out Bahamut's pokeball and recalled him, then placed the pokeball back on her belt.

"It seems your pokemon let the eevee go," Marley said to Dawn.

"Yeah, and I bet all the rest were grabbed up, too," Dawn said, looking out toward the garden. Though there were still pokemon hiding in the flowers, Dawn wasn't overly interested in tracking them down now.

"There you are!" a voice called out to Dawn. She turned around to see a maid running out from the mansion, carrying Dawn's clothing folded under her arms. She approached Dawn and handed the clothes to her. "I apologize for the mix-up with the other maid, but your clothes are clean now."

"Don't worry about it, really..." Dawn said.

"Also, my master would like to see you before you leave." The maid then bowed to Dawn and went back into the mansion.

"Then, I shall also leave now," Marley said to Dawn, taking a pokeball from her belt. "It was...nice meeting you, Dawn. Just a little."

"Err...right, nice meeting you too I guess?" Dawn replied, wondering why Marley added 'just a little'.

Marley released a large, orange canine pokemon known as Arcanine from the pokeball she grabbed and fled from the garden on its back. Dawn then headed back into the mansion, returning to the guest room to change back into her regular outfit and grab her things. To her surprise, it seemed like someone had been playing her DS after she had left. After checking to make sure her save files were all still intact, Dawn went to the study to see the mansion's owner.

"I must apologize for the behaviour of one of my maids. I hope she didn't cause you too much trouble," the mansion's owner said when Dawn arrived in his study.

"It's fine, really!" Dawn replied. _Though if she had messed with my save files, THEN we'd have a problem._

"Still, I feel I must make this up to you somehow..."

"N-no! Really! You've done more than enough already!" Dawn replied, holding up her hands in front of her.

"Really?" The man stroked his chin for a moment and then shrugged. "If you say so. In that case, allow me to show you something instead." He then moved to a bookcase at the back wall of the study and retrieved a brown, hardcover book. He set it down on his desk and motioned for Dawn to approach. When he opened the book, Dawn realized it was actually a photo album.

"This is one of my most prized photographs," he said, pointing to a photo of a blue pokemon. It had an almost blob-like, humanoid-shaped body with a pair of antenna on its head. In the picture, it was giving the viewer a curious look while floating on the water, seeming to be way out at sea. "To my understanding, this is a very rare pokemon as it's born only on the cold ocean floor."

"Yeah, that does seem pretty rare," Dawn said, blinking. She didn't recognize the pokemon either. Curious, though, she took out her pokedex and held it over the picture. A light on the end of the device came on indicating that the pokedex was recording something, and then a blank page with the pokemon's picture was added to her pokedex. The only information listed was the pokemon's name, manaphy.

_And somehow, just having a pokemon's picture is enough for me to add it to my pokedex_, Dawn thought.

"Ah! That's certainly a nifty little device you have there! You must be one of Professor Rowan's assistants!" the man said to her, taking notice of her pokedex. "In that case I certainly hope you enjoyed your time in the garden!"

"Of course! I made sure to catch lots of pokemon!" Dawn said, forcing a smile. "A-anyway, I should really get going now! Thanks for everything!"

"Think nothing of it! My doors are always open to trainers! Afterall, that's why we're called the 'Pokemon Mansion'!"

_That's a stupid name anyway!_ Dawn thought, quickly leaving the room. Seriously! _You can't get much more uncreative than 'Pokemon Mansion'!_

After leaving the room, Dawn hurried toward the mansion's exit. Even though it was now getting late, after the events that had transpired there Dawn was in a hurry to leave.

Afterall, she definitely didn't want to be there when the mansion's owner discovered the mess of his garden.

* * *

Author's Notes: I think this is the earliest I've finished in a while...

Originally was going to end this chapter on a cliffhanger, with Dawn bumping into someone almost immediately outside the mansion and ending there, but decided that'd create way too much expectation for something to happen next chapter that I didn't really intend to happen next chapter.

So, instead, Dawn will encounter that person early next chapter and we'll go from there. Who is that person? Well, who else could they be but 'that' person? Yes, that one!


	17. Chapter 17: Coincidence

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 17**

**Coincidence**

After leaving the Pokemon Mansion, Dawn ended up spending the night out on Route 212. The rest of her day had been rather uneventful, and short. It was nearly night by the time she had left the mansion and had only gotten a short distance away before setting up her sleeping bag near the base of a tree. After sleeping the night away, Dawn was ready to set off again and continue toward Pastoria. There was just one thing getting in her way.

"Just how did you end up being so much like me, anyway?" Dawn asked the young togepi that was playing her DS. The pokemon ignored her and kept pushing buttons, again playing one of Dawn's RPG's. Without any actual hands, the simplistic, turn-based game was about all it could actually play. Realizing she wasn't going to get a response, Dawn let out a sigh.

"Eggman, I need to take that from you now," Dawn said to him. Eggman defiantly shook his head, causing Dawn to let out another sigh. "Look, you know you can't carry that thing! You don't have any thumbs or fingers!" In spite of Dawn's protesting, Eggman ignored her and continued playing.

_If Mom could see me right now, she'd be laughing I bet_, Dawn thought, frowning. _This must be what it was like dealing with me. It's like this is karma or something. _Dawn reached down and took a pokeball from her belt. _Why does it always come to this?_

Reaching down, Dawn grabbed her DS and pulled it free from Eggman's hands. Eggman turned to her and was about to start crying, but Dawn recalled him into his pokeball before he had the chance. "There!" Dawn said triumphantly, clipping the pokeball back to her belt. "Hehe, I wonder how long it'll be before he starts to see that coming?"

With the barrier defeated, Dawn put her DS away. She was finally free to start on her way toward Pastoria again. She wasn't walking for more than a few minutes before she spotted a small, quadrapedal pokemon covered in mud. She stopped in her tracks to observe the pokemon, and the pokemon was also looking back at her.

"That...isn't that an eevee?" Dawn wondered aloud, blinking. "But what's an eevee doing out here? Is it from the garden maybe?" Hearing Dawn say this, the eevee was startled and suddenly took off running. "H-hey! Wait!" Dawn called out and then chased after it.

Of course, even covered in mud, the eevee was still much faster than Dawn. She lost sight of it shortly after she chased after it. Dawn kept going in spite of that until she reached the edge of a swampy marsh. Realizing she had definitely lost it now, Dawn let out a sigh.

"Great. Lost the eevee, and I have to get through this marsh wet, muddy. I don't see how this could get any worse," Dawn grumbled. Suddenly, things got much worse for Dawn as the skies opened up and began a downpour. "I take that back. Now it's worse," she muttered. Her jacket was, fortunately, waterproof, but within seconds her hat was completely soaked.

"You could always just go home," a familiar voice suggested to her. Turning around, Dawn found Dusk standing only a few feet behind her holding an umbrella over her head.

"Oh, of course you'd choose NOW to show up!" Dawn yelled at her in frustration. Rolling her eyes, Dusk walked up to Dawn and handed her umbrella over to her. Dawn blinked in disbelief and looked at Dusk in confusion.

"Don't get the wrong idea, I don't actually care what happens to you. I just don't really need it," Dusk said to her.

"But what are you going to use, then?" Dawn asked her. Pointing above her, Dusk snapped her fingers and a black vortex appeared. The rain fell into the vortex and disappeared into the alternate dimension on the other side. "Oh. That must be pretty handy, but why weren't you doing that in the first place?"

"A certain someone doesn't like when I 'abuse my power' like this," Dusk replied.

_And yet you still don't even hesitate before doing so!_ a voice said to her in annoyance.

"...Anyway, don't get the wrong idea. Running into you here was completely by coincidence," Dusk said to Dawn. "For once, I didn't come looking for you."

"Eh!? Why not!?" Dawn asked in shock. "The last time I saw you, you were all, 'You shall not pass!' And this is the first time I've seen you since then and you weren't even looking for me!?"

"I've found other things to concern myself with since then," Dusk replied, then narrowed her eyes at the girl. "Besides that, with my luck, as soon as you were in any kind of trouble someone with legendary pokemon would sweep in to save you like one of those horribly cliche scenes from a video game where the boss has all but one of your party members down and another character shows up in the nick of time to save you from a game over."

"Wha!? Now even you're making video game references!" Dawn whined and flailed her arms around. "That's my job, you hear me!?"

Dusk rolled her eyes. "Don't get so bent out of shape over this, you're practically a walking video game reference as it is," she said to Dawn. "Anyway, I've wasted enough time with you. I have things to do." Dusk then turned and started to walk away, the vortex over her head following her to keep the rain off of her.

"I...am?" Dawn said, blinking, and then quickly shook her head. "Hey! Don't just walk off!" Dawn called out after her. Dusk ignored her and kept going. Clenching her fists, Dawn took a deep breath and yelled, "DUSK I CHALLENGE YOU TO A BATTLE!"

A crack of thunder rolled across the marsh and Dusk stopped in her tracks. Slowly, she turned around, her face concealed inside her hood. "You're challenging me to a battle?"

"That's right!" Dawn replied, a determined look in her eyes.

"You're joking, right? Do you have any idea how far out of your league I am?" Dusk asked her. A smirk formed on her lips. "I've been training with my ghost pokemon since I was six, and to say I had a rough instructor would be an understatement. You? You just started and have been pretty much on your own. You're not even close to being on my level."

"Don't think I'm a pushover just because I'm still new to this!" Dawn shot back. "Even if I can't beat you, I won't know that unless I try! And if I lose, it just means I have to work harder!"

_Ok, who's the arsonist that lit the fire under her ass?_ Dusk wondered, focusing intently on Dawn. _This can't be the same girl who considers herself the 'protagonist' and me the 'villain'. Though there is one way to find out..._

"So, you think you can beat me now? That you've gained a few levels and closed the gap? Or have you figured out some new strategy to close the gap between us?" Dusk asked Dawn. She was curious as to whether or not Dawn was still thinking of her as a boss-like character from a video game.

Dawn stared silently at Dusk for a moment. Her lips eventually curled into a slight smile and Dawn giggled to herself. "Wow, hearing someone else talk like that, now I know how silly I must have sounded back then." Dusk gasped in shock at Dawn's response, and Dawn continued to speak. "I wonder what changed? It seems like I've been so caught up with my pokemon lately that I was distracted from gaming a bit..."

_Ok. I'm a bit scared now. She actually seems to be thinking with something resembling rational thought_, Dusk thought, still recoiling from the shock. It didn't take her long to calm down when she realized the implications, however. _If she really is thinking realistically for a change, then maybe... _She smirked again, a plan beginning to form in her mind.

"You want to battle? Then let's make this an official trainer battle, two pokemon each," Dusk said to Dawn.

Dawn blinked in disbelief. "Official trainer battle? But...are you even an official trainer?" Thinking for a moment, Dawn then added, "Come to think of it, are you even human? With that hood up all the time, I haven't even gotten a good look at your face..."

Dusk rolled her eyes."If you were able to see my face, you would go insane," she said to Dawn. Dawn gulped nervously. "I'm joking. Somewhat. You'd probably be shocked to say the least. To answer your question, though, I am licensed, though none of my pokemon are."

_So if she's an official trainer, she must be human_, Dawn thought. _So I wonder what her deal with this whole vortex thing is, then? How does she do that? Does she live in whatever's on the other side or just uses it to get around quickly?_

_Dusk, that's quite enough. Anymore and she may start to figure you out. _Sighing, Dusk nodded in agreement with the voice in her head.

"In any case...the reason I suggested two pokemon is because I think we should make this a double battle," Dusk said to her. Holding out her hands, Dusk focused and two vortexes opened in front of her. Mentally sending her request, two ghost pokemon soon emerged and floated over the open vortex.

"You might recognize these two from our previous encounters. This is Seeker," Dusk gestured toward the doll-like ghost pokemon with the zipper mouth. "And this is Caster," Dusk then gestured to her other pokemon, a purple pokemon that looked similar to a traditional bedsheet ghost only wearing a witch hat.

_I wonder if Caster is a friendly ghost?_ Dawn thought, snickering to , realizing it was her turn, Dawn held her umbrella between her shoulder and neck for a moment to grab a pokeball in each hand. "Bahamut! Bowser! I choose you!" she called out, releasing her two pokemon. The two pokemon had a fierce look in their eyes when they appeared and saw Dusk and her ghosts were their opponent.

_Well, looks like those two recognize me then_, Dusk thought, rolling her eyes.

"Ok! Bowser, Bahamut...come here!" Dawn called out. Bowser and Bahamut looked at each other in confusion, then walked over to Dawn. Dawn kneeled down to be closer to them and then started whispering.

"Just what is she up to now?" Dusk wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"Ok, ready?" Dawn said as she stood up again. Her pokemon nodded to her. Dawn then pointed a finger toward Dusk and her pokemon and said, "Then go! Sand Curtain!" At Dawn's command, the two pokemon ran forward with Bahamut taking point, stopping once they had distanced themselves from Dawn.

"-LET'S GO! Operation...**SAND CURTAIN!**-" Bahamut shouted, jumping in the air and spinning around. Sand swirled out from his body, covering the field. All four pokemon were soon engulfed by the sand and Bahamut's Sand Veil ability was making it difficult to discern his location now, other than that he landed back in front of Bowser. Strangely, far overhead, the clouds began to part. The winds summoned to create the sandstorm cleared out the clouds directly above them while leaving the rest of the storm intact, though neither trainer took notice.

"Tch. So you can give one of your pokemon some protection, don't make a big production of it!" Dusk said to Dawn. "Seeker, move in and attack whichever one you find first with Shadow Claw. Caster, use Shadow Ball and provide cover."

Seeker the banette began to move forward, the sound of insane cackling filling the air yet seemingly coming from nowhere. At the same time, Caster, Dusk's mismagius, began chanting. A ball of shadowstuff formed in front of her, which she then launched on an angle into Seeker's path to disrupt any potential attacks. The Shadow Ball, however, was met midway by the blast of a blue-tinted shockwave. The two attacks exploded and Seeker stopped in his path. The explosion kicked up a large cloud of dust which began to swirl with the sandstorm, creating an almost completely opaque wall between Dusk's pokemon and Dawn's.

"Good job! Now switch to the Hidden Dragon maneuver!" Dawn commanded her pokemon.

_Sand Curtain? Hidden Dragon?_ Dusk raised an eyebrow. _Just what is she trying to pull off here, exactly? All they're doing is stalling._

_Perhaps that is their plan?_ a voice said in Dusk's mind.

Seeker started back on his attack run, undisturbed by the intensity of the swirling debris. It disappeared from view into denser area of the storm. No one could see what was going on inside after, but Seeker could now see a blue mass and immediately targetted. Raising one hand back, shadows formed on the tip of his hands, forming into a set of elongated claws. Seeker struck out at the form before him with those claws, but slashed only through empty air.

"-What?!-" Seeker hissed. His shocked reaction was all that Dawn's pokemon needed, though, as Bowser suddenly lunged forward and bit down on Seeker's outstretched hand with crushing force. Seeker shrieked in pain, a shriek that seemed to come from everywhere but his zippered mouth. The ghost pokemon struggled to pull its hand free, but Bowser had a strong grip on it.

"-Damn it! Let go! I need that hand for slashing you!-" Seeker growled.

"-DON'TYOUDAREFORGETI'MHERETOO! **DRAGON RAGE!**-" A voice shouted from above. Bowser finally let go of Seeker, causing him to stumble back and then get pounded into the ground as a blue shockwave struck him from above. Bahamut then dropped down, landing on top of Bowser.

"-Now! While he's still recovering, let's finish this with THAT technique!-" Bahamut said to Bowser.

"-'That' technique?-"

"-What else, you dumbass?-" Bahamut grinned. "-Our combination attack!-"

"-Works for me!-" Bowser said, then opened his mouth and got ready to fire.

"-When two pokemon combine their power on the battlefield, there is no stopping them! TAKE THIS! OUR ETERNAL COMBINATION!-" Bahamut opened his mouth and a blue glow began to form deep in his throat. Below him, Bowser fired off a Seed Bomb attack, followed almost immediately by a blue, fireball-like shockwave erupting from Bahamut's mouth with a cry of, "-**DRAGON SEED!**-"

"-What the hell are you two blathering about?-" Seeker grumbled as he got up, then finally saw the attack coming toward him. "-Oh. Oh this is going to--" The combined attack hitting him cut Seeker off. An explosion from the initial blast, caused by the seeds hitting first, threw him back. While he was still in the air, the shockwave caught up with him and pushed him back through the sand.

"-'Dragon Seed'?-" Bowser asked Bahamut.

"-I just came up with it!-" Bahamut said, sounding proud of himself.

Bowser rolled his eyes. "-Seems kinda obvious.-"

Back outside the denser area of the sandstorm, the girls saw Seeker emerge riding on the shockwave from Bahamut's Dragon Rage until the energy dispersed. When it did, Seeker fell to the ground, already unconscious. "What?! You've got to be kidding me!" Dusk growled, balling her right hand into a fist. "Just what the heck did your pokemon do in there that somehow managed to defeat Seeker!?"

"Easy! As soon as Bahamut used Sandstorm, Bowser started using Curse!" Dawn explained, grinning. "Once your pokemon went inside, Bowser and Bahamut double teamed it, with Bowser using his increased strength to pin it with Bite until they were ready to finish it off!"

_Tch! I completely underestimated her!_ Dusk thought. _If it had been any other trainer I wouldn't have walked straight into an obvious trap like that, but I didn't think Dawn could pull that off! She really is serious about this!_

"And now you still have to deal with Bowser being powered up with only one pokemon left!" Dawn continued. "I've had a lot of practice since we battled last time and-"

"Caster, use Perish Song," Dusk commanded. Caster then cried out in a shrill, haunting tone that sent a shiver through Dawn's spine. Even after she finished, though, the chant seemed to continue, emitting from all three pokemon still on the field.

"...Huh? What's that supposed to do?" Dawn wondered aloud, blinking.

"I'm making a point here," Dusk said to her, glaring at her from across the field. "Don't get too cocky because you managed to defeat Seeker so easily. I took you for granted and walked straight into a trap. You caught me off guard with that one, but it won't work a second time. In the end, Dawn, you're still a rookie and defeating one of my pokemon was beginner's luck."

"Wh-what?! HEY!" Dawn growled and glared back at her. "I might not be as good as you claim to be, but I'm not just a beginner anymore! Just watch, as soon as this sandstorm's over..." As Dawn spoke, the sandstorm was finally dying down, revealing Bowser and Bahamut's position. Though both pokemon looked fine, Dawn could tell something was wrong as she could now finally hear that same tone from both her pokemon.

"-Hey, are you getting a feeling of impending doom?-" Bowser asked Bahamut.

"-HA! Never!-" Bahamut replied, folding his arms. "-To a gible, there is no such thing as an impending doom! Our fate will not be written in stone like that! We will...-" Bahamut's eyes started to close a bit and he felt himself growing steadily weaker. "-We will...will not...ugh...-" Feeling the last of his strength leave him, Bahamut fell to the ground, unconscious. The same thing happened to Bowser and Caster, as both pokemon seemed to suddenly lose strength and collapsed.

"They both fainted?" Dawn mumbled in disbelief.

"That's what Perish Song does," Dusk explained to Dawn while stretching out a hand toward each of her pokemon. A vortex opened underneath them and the two unconscious ghosts dropped inside. "Every pokemon that hears it will faint shortly after unless they're recalled into their pokeballs."

"Ha! So you had to resort to a cheap trick like that to beat me, huh!?" Dawn said smugly, pointing a finger at Dusk. "And now you'll think twice before trying to attack me again!"

Dusk rolled her eyes. "As if. I was making a point," Dusk said, then looked at Dawn intently. "Namely...that you had no idea what Perish Song even does until it finally took effect. A truly experienced trainer is able to identify all but the most obscure moves, and they're all understandably wary of a technique like Perish Song."

While listening to Dusk, Dawn recalled her two pokemon and clipped their pokeballs back to her belt. When she was finished, Dawn said to her, "But isn't that just a suicide technique? You can't actually win with a technique that knocks out both pokemon!"

"That depends on the situation, but I'll leave it at that," Dusk said to her. "Now, if you're quite done, I'll be going. I have things to do. And I don't know what you're doing, but you should just go home now. Otherwise, the next time we meet, I really will have some devious plan in mind for you."

Dawn was silent for a moment after Dusk spoke. Overhead, the clouds that had been parted by Bahamut's Sandstorm technique finally closed in and the rain poured down around them again. Thinking Dawn was finally finished, Dusk turned and started to walk away.

"Dusk! Wait!" Dawn called out to her. Dusk let out a sigh and turned to face her again.

"What could you possibly want now?"

"What is it...you're trying to do?" Dawn asked her. "You've been trying to make me stay home from the start, and even put me in dangerous situations to try to make me go home, but you don't seem like a bad person...so why are you doing this? I deserve to know that much, don't I?"

_Perhaps it really will be possibly to talk some sense into her_, Dusk thought. _What do you say?_

_By all means, if you think it will help any_, a voice said to her. _However, she doesn't need to know all the details. Especially when we don't know them all ourselves._

Dusk nodded and then said to Dawn, "You want to know why? Then I'll tell you. It's because if you and the object I'm looking for end up in the same place at the same time, then the world as we know it could possibly come to an end."

"Umm...could you be a bit less vague?" Dawn asked, blinking in confusion. Dusk sighed.

"Essentially, this item will free an eldritch creature older than known time from a prison sealed away beyond reality, and the only one that will be able to use this item is you," Dusk explained to her.

"Oh." Dawn shrugged. "Then I just won't use it, though I don't get why I'm the only one that can. Either way, problem solved, right?" She then smiled sheepishly and added, "Though that really does sound like a plot out of some kind of rpg. The final boss, if not some kind of angelic prettyboy, will always be an eldritch abomination."

_Even if you have a point, please don't start down that train of thought again!_ Dusk mentally pleaded, twitching slightly. She took a moment to calm herself before replying. "The problem with that is we don't think you'll have a choice in the matter, for the same reason that you're the only one that can do it. As for why it has to be you, I'm not going to say. You should be able to figure that out on your own what would set you apart from other people."

_That wasn't very helpful_, Dawn thought. _But...it really does sound like she's serious. This would be as good an excuse as any to just go home and lock myself in my room again, but being this close to Veilstone, or even Pastoria and the Great Marsh, I'd be missing out if I went home now... _

As Dawn contemplated her next move, another thought struck her. One she was a bit hesitant to confront Dusk about, but was curious nonetheless. Swallowing nervously, Dawn made her inquiry. "Umm, with all that said, if that's really true, wouldn't it be easier to, you know...kill me?"

"As tempting as that is at times, I intend to avoid doing anything extreme like that," Dusk said to her. Dawn breathed a sigh of relief. "I wouldn't relax yet. If need be, we're ready to seal you away in an impenetrable prison somewhere that no one, human or pokemon, would ever be able to reach you. And no, it isn't your bedroom."

"I wish my bedroom was like that," Dawn thought, reflecting on all the times a certain someone kidnapped her.

"Now, if you're quite done, I have an artifact of doom to try to track down," Dusk said, then turned to leave again.

"Dusk! Wait!" Dawn yelled again. Dusk felt her blood boil and abruptly turned to face Dawn.

"WHAT!? WHAT THE HELL COULD YOU POSSIBLY WANT NOW!?" Dusk yelled at her. Visibly shaken, Dawn swallowed nervously before replying.

"Umm...did you want your umbrella back?" Dawn asked her.

"...Keep it. I'll get another one." Dusk muttered. She started to walk away again without another word, the vortex over her head following her to continue keeping the rain off.

"Aren't you going to try to force me to go home?" Dawn called out after her.

"Like I already said, if you got into any trouble someone would just show up to help you," Dusk replied without stopping or even slowing down.

"Dusk...she's a strange one. But I don't think I have to worry about getting hurt around her," Dawn said, then frowned when she remembered what Dusk said. "Still, shouldn't I be worried about this? That sounded pretty bad..."

After thinking for it for a moment, Dawn shook her head and smiled. "Naw, my pokemon will be able to protect me! If that...whatever it is Dusk's looking for finds me then we'll just have to stop it!" Dawn then turned around to start on her way again, but found the eevee from before was now standing behind her and giving her a curious look.

"Hey...you're that eevee from before! Again!" Dawn said. The eevee suddenly took off again. "H-hey! Wait up!" she called out and chased after it. Unfortunately, she forgot about the marsh ahead and tripped face first into the mud while the eevee disappeared in the marsh. She was so disgusted by this that she laid still for a moment, until she started to sink.

"Just how deep is this stuff!?" Dawn shrieked as she tried to stand up. Though she managed to get upright, it left her up to her waist in mud as a result. By then she's stopped sinking, but finds it nearly impossible to move in the deep mud.

"This...is horrible..." Dawn groaned. "I can't move, and I'm REALLY regretting not wearing pants right now..." She then let out a sigh. "I wonder what the chances are that someone will find me?"

"I'd say they're pretty good." Dawn blinked when she heard a voice and looked behind her. A girl wearing a red bandana, shirt, and black bike shorts was standing behind her alongside a pokemon that looked like a dragonfly only more dragon than fly. Dawn didn't hear them land in her distress. The girl reached out to her with a gloved hand. "Need some help?"

As Dawn reached out for the girl's hand, she could only think of one thing.

_Somehow, Dusk was right..._

* * *

Author's Notes: Yeah, the whole deal with Dusk not battling Dawn to force her home was leading up to that joke at the end more or less. I'm sure it's fairly obvious who came to Dawn's rescue this time.

I think there might have been just a little too much conversation in this chapter and still some things were left unsaid that I wanted said. And I don't exactly plan for Dusk to do much talking during her next appearance either, though that's a fair bit off yet. And originally I was going to have Dusk encounter Dawn at the end of the last chapter and have a cliffhanger that seemingly promised a showdown between the two, as opposed to the brief scuffle I eventually included in this chapter.


	18. Chapter 18: Capture Contest!

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 18**

**Capture Contest!**

The day after Dawn's encounter with Dusk, she was already in Pastoria. May, the girl who had rescued her from the mud, gave her a lift there on the back of her dragon pokemon, Flygon. However, May ended up doing a fair bit more for Dawn than that...

"Umm, May, it's not that I don't appreciate all this, but isn't it odd to be doing this for a girl you just met?" Dawn asked her. It was early morning and the two girls were sitting in a hotel restaurant for breakfast. May was paying for Dawn's meal, in addition to paying for her room the previous night and making sure her clothes got washed while Dawn was getting cleaned up.

"Hmm? But this isn't much, really," May assured her. Dawn's jaw dropped slightly.

_Not even my Mom would spend this much on a complete stranger! And she's an accomplished contest star!_ Dawn thought, pulling her hat down to try to cover the slight twitch in her eye.

"Anyway, after I picked you up yesterday I noticed you have a pokdex," May said to her.

"Oh, yeah." Dawn reached down into her travel bag and took out her pokedex. She left it in there while her jacket was being washed again. "I'm working on one of these for Professor Rowan, actually." Dawn placed the pokedex in the middle of the table, thinking May wanted to see it, but she didn't seem interested. Instead, May reached for something on her belt and then placed a similar looking device on the table.

"I have one too, from Professor Birch," May said, then opened the pokedex to show it to Dawn. Unlike Dawn's, it only had a single screen with two buttons under it. She could immediately tell it was an older generation model just by looking at it.

_She must have had that for a while!_ Dawn thought. _Come to think of it, what was it Gardenia was saying about pokedex holders that time?_ Dawn thought back, recalling the conversation. Her eyes widened in shock as she started to realize just who she was having breakfast with and she sunk back in her chair.

May, noticing Dawn's sudden change in expression, raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you okay?"

"F-fine!" Dawn stuttered, then slowly got up from her seat. "I just need some hot chocolate or something..." Dawn then left the table and walked up to the kitchen, forgetting that a waitress would normally serve it. As soon as she left, May picked up her pokedex.

_This is a different model than mine, I wonder how it works?_ May thought. _Says she has 55 pokemon seen and 11 caught...but how do I look at them?_ May fiddled around with the device until she happened to touch the screen and noticed that seemed to cause a reaction. _A touch screen?_ May frowned. _My pokedex doesn't have a touch screen..._

Meanwhile, despite being told to wait at her table for her hot chocolate, Dawn was still waiting in front of the kitchen. From there she was watching May fiddle with her pokedex, a nervous expression on her face.

_She must think my pokedex is absolute garbage!_ Dawn thought, cringing. _She's Hoenn's champion, AND a pokedex holder! What's she even doing in Sinnoh? Did Rowan send for her for some reason?_ Dawn gulped nervously.

_Come to think of it, even though I didn't realize it at the time, Melany's a pokedex holder from Hoenn too, isn't she? Did they come here together? Or is May here looking for Melany? I could ask her I guess. I know Melany came here to study with Rowan, so May must be here because of Melany._ Dawn nodded, content with her answer, until another thought crossed her mind.

_Wait...if May and Melany are pokedex holders from Hoenn...then who the heck is Rina!?_

* * *

"ACHOO!" Rina groaned and wiped her nose with the back of her gloved hand. "I wish I didn't leave Felicia behind. I think I'm comin down with a cold," she said. "This route sucks..."

Melany was with her and both were dressed in heavy clothing to protect them from the cold and snow. Rina wore a yellow jacket, and Melany wore a green jacket that was even heavier than Rina's. Being from Hoenn, Melany was much less used to the cold than Rina. To make things worse, there seemed to be a near-constant blizzard in the area they were now in.

"I'm really, really starting to miss Hoenn," Melany grumbled, holding up a hand to shield her face from the blowing snow. "If we make it to Snowpoint without freezing to death, we're finding another way back. Even if it's by boat!"

"I wish we had thought of that first," Rina said. Letting out a sigh, the two of them continued on their way northward, hoping they would arrive in Snowpoint soon.

* * *

"Miss, your hot chocolate," an annoyed voice said to Dawn. Dawn turned around and took the cup off the kitchen counter, thanked the waitress, and then finally returned to her seat.

"So, umm, what do you think of my pokedex? I noticed you checking it out..." Dawn asked May as she sat down across from her.

"Well, it's a newer model than mine, but I don't think it makes much difference." May shrugged and slid the device across the table, handing it back to Dawn. "Not like I'm a pokedex expert anyway. As long as it can record the pokemon, that's all that matters!" May said, folding her arms and nodding.

_I don't know what I should think of that response_, Dawn thought, then smiled to herself._ If nothing else, I don't think she really cares about how many pokemon I've caught._

"Anyway, what I wanted to ask you was...umm..." It seemed it was May's turn to be nervous now, hesitating in asking her question. She looked off to the side before she was finally able to spit it out. "Have you met a girl by the name of Melany?"

"Yeah, I trained with her a bit actually," Dawn replied, glancing at her curiously. She lifted her cup of hot chocolate to her mouth to take a sip, then added, "I think she's supposed to be training under Professor Rowan."

"R-right, she is..." May said, forcing a smile as she turned to face Dawn again. "She...say anything about me? N-not that I actually care or anything! I'm just curious!"

"Nope," Dawn replied, taking another sip of her hot chocolate. May was silent for a moment, as if she either expected there was more to it.

"N-nothing at all?"

"Umm...should she have?" Dawn asked, blinking. "Wouldn't you just be able to contact her and find out for yourself? I mean, you ARE friends, aren't you?"

"F-friends?" May blushed and waved her arms frantically. "As if I'd have such a strange friend!"

_She's really being odd about this for some reason, is she really my senior?_ Dawn wondered, then glanced around the restaurant. Every pair of eyes seemed to be on the two of them now. _Dawn blushed and looked down at the floor. I think she's made us the center of attention too..._

"Anyway! Nevermind that! You said Melany was training you?" May then asked Dawn, leaning over the table.

Dawn blinked. "What about it?"

"So you must be a pretty good trainer, right?"

"Err...well..." Dawn hesitated to reply. Though she wanted to say she was, her encounter with Dusk taught her that she still had much to learn. "I...guess?" Dawn eventually answered.

"You took too long to respond," May said, sitting back in her seat. "Well, there's a gym leader in this town. If you challenge them then that'd give me a good idea of what kind of trainer you are. I'm kinda curious since it seems like pokedexes somehow end up in the hands of strong trainers, or at least it worked out that way in Kanto and Hoenn."

"Oh, sure!" Dawn replied, hiding a smile. _After nearly beating Roark with Bridget, Bowser, and Jax, I might actually be able to beat a gym leader now!_ she thought to herself. _Just you wait, May! I might not be on the same level as you yet, but I'll prove I'm worthy enough to have a pokedex!_

* * *

With their next stop decided, the two girls left the restaurant as soon as Dawn had finished her drink. It was a short trip across the city to get to the gym from their hotel, but the trip seemed longer. Pastoria had absolutely no roads, and the ground was fairly soggy in some areas due to the marshy terrain to the north and west of the city. Dawn considered herself fortunate to be wearing boots. When the girls reached the gym, they made a startling discovery.

"CLOSED!?" Dawn shrieked when she read the sign on the door. "But... but... I was all ready to beat this guy too!"

"Gyms can close? That's news to me," May said, folding her arms in front of her and looking at the sign curiously. "Doesn't say why, though..."

"The one time I actually want to challenge a gym too," Dawn grumbled to herself, clenching her fists.

May looked around and spotted a fisherman passing nearby. "Excuse me!" she called out to him. The fisherman stopped and looked at her. "Do you know why the gym's closed?" she asked him.

"Eh..." the fisherman thought for a moment and then shrugged. "Wake's gone up north to Veilstone I think. Probably visiting Maylene."

"Well that's no good," May mumbled to herself, then looked back at Dawn. "Luckily, I have another idea! In fact, this idea even makes more sense than having you fight a gym leader!"

"Huh?" Dawn looked back at her and blinked in disbelief. "I'm not going to have to fight you, am I?"

"Of course not!" May replied, waving her hand. "My pokemon would just beat the crap out of your's anyway. No, my idea is something much more related to a pokedex!"

Even if it's true she'd beat my pokemon easily, she didn't have to be so blunt! Dawn thought, frowning. May then suddenly grabbed her by the hand.

"Come on already!" May said, pulling Dawn away from the gym. Dawn reluctantly followed behind her, wondering what the older girl could possibly have in store.

* * *

After another lengthy trip across Pastoria, May stopped suddenly and gestured to a structure north of them. "This is the place!" she said to Dawn.

"The...Great Marsh?" Dawn asked, blinking in disbelief. "But what are we supposed to do here?"

"What else? A pokemon catching contest!" May replied, grinning from ear to ear. "I've already looked into this place and it's just like the Safari Zone back in Hoenn. We can go into the marsh for a small price and catch pokemon with special pokeballs."

"I know all about the Great Marsh," Dawn said, waving her hand. "I was on my way to Pastoria to check it out. Kinda." Dawn shifted her gaze to the side. "I was going to stop here while passing through to Veilstone anyway..."

"Well in any case, here's how we'll do it!" May began to explain, "We'll deposit one of our pokemon before going in, so the next pokemon we catch will be added to our current line-up instead of being stored."

"Why would we do it like that, though?" Dawn asked her.

"Because when we go in, we'll only catch one pokemon each before leaving," May explained. "If we do it this way, then that one pokemon would be the one that we'd have with us and neither of us could cheat by catching more than one pokemon and withdrawing the better one."

"That makes sense I guess," Dawn said. _Though I feel like I'm being called a cheater now. I mean, sure, I've used cheat codes, but who hasn't?_

"The trainer that catches the rarest pokemon in the Safari Zone will be the winner. Sound fair?" May asked. Dawn nodded to her. "Ok! Then we each get until we either catch a pokemon or we're kicked out! Now let's go!" May ran into the building and Dawn followed along behind her. Once inside, the two girls each deposited a pokemon at the PC. May was first and immediately went to the registry after depositing one of her pokemon.

"May? There's binoculars upstairs you know," Dawn said, pointing toward a set of stairs leading to the next level.

"What good is a pair of binoculars going to do? I can find pokemon just fine on foot!" May paid her entry fee, then turned and flashed Dawn a grin. "Just you wait! I'll catch the rarest pokemon in here, just like when I went to the Safari Zone!" May said, then hurried off into the marsh.

"You could have spotted pokemon with them..." Dawn said quietly as May ran off. Shrugging, Dawn quickly deposited one of her pokemon, the only pokemon she didn't think would be of any use to her, and then went upstairs.

The second floor consisted of one, large room with with a large window and three sets of binocoulars. The window faced toward the Great Marsh, as did the binoculars. The binoculars were rather large and placed on top of stands that allowed them to pivot or raised or lowered to make it easier for people to use them. They were free to use, and two of the three sets of binoculars were available when Dawn arrived.

"Hehehe! With this, I just might be able to beat her!" Dawn said, earning her an odd look from the young boy using one of the binoculars. Dawn didn't pay any attention to him, though, and approached the set of binoculars furthest from him. Before using the binoculars, she took a look out the window. Almost the entire Great Marsh could be seen with just the naked eye.

_The Great Marsh is...pretty big_, Dawn thought, blinking. _It's a good thing they have a rail system going through it, or else it'd take forever to find anything._

Dawn peered through the binoculars and scanned the Great Marsh. Through the binoculars, she had a much more detailed view and could even see individual pokemon. At first, she didn't see anything interesting. Just bidoof and bibarel lounging around in the marsh and the occassional blue, armless pokemon flitting through the mud. Soon enough, though, she spotted something interesting.

"That group of purple bug pokemon over there...I think they're called skorupi. I think they're supposed to be hard to find, too, but it looks like there's an entire nest!" Dawn grinned to herself. "Ok then! I'm going to go grab one of those skorupi!"

Dawn immediately ran back downstairs and paid her admission fee. A ranger running the registry then handed her several safari balls to use in the marsh. After taking her safari balls she was about to run out the door into the marsh when she heard another ranger call out to her.

"Hey! Slow down!" he said to her. Dawn stopped and looked at him, only then noticing the array of rubber boots and overalls lining the wall. "It's wet and muddy out there. If you want to keep dry and clean you'll want to dress appropriately."

_I guess he has a point_, Dawn thought. _I wonder if May thought to wear this stuff, though? She took off pretty quickly..._

* * *

"Why didn't anyone tell me the Great Marsh was so wet, swampy, and dirty?" May growled.

"-Even I know the answer to that one,-" Flygon muttered to himself. Since May had gone without the proper gear, Flygon was now serving as her mount while in the marsh. They hovered in place only a few feet above the ground.

"I know what you're thinking but I honestly thought it might be just a name," May said, folding her arms. "Besides that, isn't 'Great Marsh' kind of an obvious name for a marsh? Wouldn't it have been better suited as a name for, say, a desert? You know, something completely opposite?"

"-You humans call my kind, a species of flying dragons, 'flygon',-" Flygon said to her. "-Considering that, 'Great Marsh' sounds about right.-"

"Anyway, I guess it doesn't matter since I can just fly. There's no rule about having my pokemon out, only that I can't use them to catch wild pokemon." May smirked. "Aside from the terrain, it's just like the Safari Zone. All we need to do is find a rare pokemon!"

"-How about that one?-" Flygon said, pointing at a tan-furred pokemon sitting at the edge of the marsh. The pokemon was chewing on a rather large log while giving May and Flygon a curious glance every now and then. May followed Flygon's direction and smirked when she saw the pokemon.

"That pokemon sees us, but it isn't running," May said. "It's either really strong and hard to catch, or really stupid. Let's see what the pokedex says..." May took out her pokedex and scanned the pokemon. Her pokedex had been upgraded a while back to display new pokemon, and thus it had some interesting information for May.

"Bibarel, huh? The pokedex entry itself is kinda useless, just mentions that it dams rivers," May said, then looked back at the wild bibarel. "But the type combination is completely unheard of, and its special techniques seem pretty powerful too. How lucky of us to find such a pokemon on our first try! Flygon, lower me to the ground!"

"-Err, okay. But there's nothing but mud under us...-" Though Flygon didn't understand it, he moved down anyway. Once he was lower to the mud, May reached out and grabbed a handful, leaving Flygon further confused.

"HEY! YOU!" May yelled. The bibarel stopped chewing on the log it had and looked at her. "TAKE THIS!" May threw a ball of mud at the bibarel, hitting it in the face. The bibarel barely flinched at this, but May immediately followed up by taking out a safari ball and throwing it at the pokemon. The safari ball struck it, pulled it inside, and dropped to the ground behind the log. After a moment, May heard a familiar click and grinned.

"Wow! That was almost too easy!" she said. "Okay, Flygon, let's go get that pokeball and then get out of here. That's all we came here to do, afteral."

Flygon shrugged. "-Hardly seems like it was worth the trip, but who am I to judge?-"

Confident that she had caught a rare pokemon, May retrieved the pokeball and left the Great Marsh with her catch. Shortly after she had left the area, two more bibarel and a group of bidoof showed up, all taking an interest in the log the previous one had been chewing.

* * *

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the park, Dawn was knee-deep in flithy water as she searched the marsh for the nest of bug pokemon she had spotted earlier.

"Yuck. I can't believe anything would live in a marsh like this," Dawn said, grimacing. "After this, I'm never coming back here! This isn't worth whatever pokemon could be found here!"

Dawn continued through the water, stopping only briefly when she felt something bump into her. A wild wooper, not watching where it was going, swam into her leg and then kept going. Dawn watched it for a moment as it swam off, disappearing into the murky water.

"If woopers weren't so common I'd have just caught that," Dawn said, letting out a sigh. "May definitely would catch something rarer than a wooper. I bet she'd be walking out of here with a pokemon I've never even heard of, so I at least need to get one of those skorupi!" Dawn turned and immediately scanned the nearby shore.

"I know I saw that nest around here somewhere..." she mumbled to herself. It wasn't long, though, before she spotted something moving in the grass. She watched it closely until a purple bug pokemon with a pair of claws and a tail stinger emerged from the grass.

"Well that was definitely convenient!" Dawn said, then drew a safari ball from a small satchel at her side. The skorupi, hearing her, looked in her direction just as the safari ball was coming toward it. The safari ball struck it and pulled it inside, then fell to the ground and rolled around as the skorupi tried to break free. Eventually, it stopped, and the safari ball locked shut with the skorupi inside.

"ALRIGHT!" Dawn cheered and pumped her fist into the air. "I can't believe I caught a skorupi that easily!" Dawn walked over to the shore and out of the water, a wide grin on her face as she approached the pokeball. "Seems like the only real challenge here will be figuring out a name for it."

Dawn bent over and reached down to pick it up. As she did, a rather large, purple, accordion-like limb with a pair of claws on the end pierced the ground between her hand and the pokeball. She hesitantly looked up and saw a much larger version of the pokemon she had caught, only its body had either a torso or a long neck with a pair of arms growing out of it. The pokemon was slightly taller than Dawn, big for a drapion.

_Knew that was too easy!_ Dawn thought. She started slowly walking backwards, moving away from the pokemon. It was then that she noticed several small skorupi, like the one she had caught, gathered behind it. Must be a fairly new nest... and the big one is either an angry mommy or daddy. Dawn continued to back away, hoping to escape, but the bigger pokemon was still advancing on her. The rest of the skorupi were gathered around the pokeball, poking at it curiously.

_Ok, I think I know a way out of this. I can deal with a wild pokemon even if I can't fight it!_ Dawn thought to herself. Looking past the advancing drapion and seeing the pokeball lying beyond, Dawn reached for one of her own. _I can't fight them, but I can still use one of my pokemon to grab that pokeball! I won't leave emptyhanded!_

"Conker, go! Grab that pokeball!" Dawn called out, aiming the pokeball to release Conker just behind the larger pokemon. The drapion looked back as Conker was released. Conker looked at the pokeball curiously, the rest of the skorupi scattering as he appeared, and then looked at the drapion.

"-I think we should just fight that thing but...you're the boss!-" Conker said. He quickly grabbed the pokeball in his tiny paws and ran toward the drapion. The drapion tried to attack Conker with its claws, but conker jumped past and delivered the pokeball to Dawn.

"Good job, Conker!" Dawn said to him. "I'd have you fight that thing, but we're not supposed to fight pokemon here, so that's it for now!" Conker was still confused by this when Dawn started to recall him, but assumed she knew what she was doing. By the time Dawn placed both pokeballs on her belt, the drapion was turning to face her again. Dawn was already taking another safari ball in her hand by then.

"And your turn now!" Dawn called out, throwing the safari ball at the wild drapion. As soon as the ball struck and pulled the drapion inside, Dawn started running and went into the water, moving as quickly as she could. All the while, she was grinning to herself.

_I bet no one's ever thought of using pokeballs to stall an enraged, wild pokemon like this before!_ Dawn thought. _I must be a genius! _She soon heard a cracking noise behind her, followed by splashing. Dawn looked back and was shocked to see the wild drapion not only giving chase, but catching up to her.

"Why don't you just give up!?" Dawn yelled, taking another safari ball from her satchel.

"-Don't think I didn't overhear that! You're not allowed to fight me in this place, trainer!-" the wild drapion said, though Dawn couldn't understand. It was all the drapion managed to get out before another safari ball struck it. The ball opened and pulled the drapion inside, then fell into the water. It didn't stay in nearly as long this time, breaking out almost immediately and giving chase again.

_At this rate I'm going to end up accidentally catching this one! _Dawn thought, immediately lobbing another safari ball at the pokemon. _Well, if that happens, I'm definitely not keeping it. I hope I can at least keep this up until I get to the rail, but... which way was that again!?_

Having been fairly calm in the face of danger, Dawn was slowly starting to feel panic set in. She continued to run through the Great Marsh, lobbing safari ball after safari ball to stall her pursuer. Despite how many she threw, none of them seemed to be keeping it inside. The pokemon was just too strong and too focused on chasing Dawn to stay inside. This kept up until Dawn reached into her satchel for another safari ball to throw, but found none.

"CRAP!" Dawn yelled, breaking out into a full run now and still moving through water. The drapion behind her grinned as it gave chase, slowly gaining on her. Dawn had managed to put over a dozen feet of distance between them, but she still couldn't see any sign of the rail. Worse, she was sure she ran in the wrong direction.

_Oh, screw the rules!_ Dawn thought, finally reaching for a pokeball. _If there was anyone around to care, they'd be doing something about this drapion chasing me!_

Just as Dawn was getting ready to send out her pokemon, she heard a loud noise. Looking up ahead, she could see what seemed to be a fairly flat, broad boat with a large turbine on the back. One ranger was driving the vehicle, but a second ranger seemed to be on a raised platform behind the first and operating a gun.

"Oh, sure, now they'd show up!" Dawn grumbled.

With the arrival of the marsh rangers, though, she had forgotten all about the drapion. The drapion had caught up to her and was about to lunge, but by then the rangers had caught up as well. A sound like machinegun fire filled the air and the drapion was struck repeatedly, staggering back. Each shot that hit made a distinct popping noise and a green mist was starting to fill the air.

_Oh, geez! I better move!_ Dawn thought, then pushed through the water to move closer to the rangers' craft. The drapion tried to lunge again, but the gunfire threw it onto its back as it did. The drapion laid motionless for a moment, the green mist thick over the water now. Soon after, though, the drapion got up again and quickly ran off.

"Heh. Never seen a pokemon take that many repel pellets before running before," the ranger manning the gun said, grinning. "That one's definitely a fighter."

"We'll have to come back for it later," the other ranger said, then looked at Dawn. "As for you, miss..." Dawn gulped nervously, feeling she was in trouble for some reason. "You're out of safari balls. We'll have to take you back now."

_I'm not complaining about their arrival just now, not one bit_, Dawn thought. _But is that seriously the reason they showed up!?_

* * *

Due to being out of safari balls, the rangers escorted Dawn back to the front office. Not a word was said about the drapion that had chased her. In fact, neither of the rangers seemed too interested in anything but returning Dawn to the entrance. There, after turning in the clothes she borrowed, she met up with May.

"You kept me waiting!" May said, grinning at her. "I hope you've at least got something interesting to show for taking so long!"

"Ah, well, I got something pretty good anyway," Dawn said, taking the lone safari ball in her hand and then releasing the skorupi she caught. The skorupi looked around at the two curiously.

"-Where...am I?-" the skorupi wondered.

"It seems kinda...cute," May said, leaning over to take a closer look. "Is it a rare pokemon?"

"I think it's pretty uncommon anyway," Dawn said, then grinned. "You should have seen the one that got away, though!"

"Well, I bet even that pokemon wasn't as impressive as the one I've caught!" May said, taking a safari ball from her belt and then backing up so she'd have room to release it. "Come on out, Bibarel!" The safari ball opened up and released her pokemon. When Bibarel emerged, though, it didn't even look around. Rather, it seemed almost unaware of its situation.

Upon seeing the bibarel, Dawn was silent for a moment, wondering if May was serious. Then she suddenly burst out laughing. "THAT'S your rare pokemon!?" she said.

"Well...yeah." May blinked. "Isn't it? I mean, its typing is water and normal, and its special abilities can completely alter the course of battle and..."

"Its, like, one of the most common pokemon in Sinnoh next to its pre-evolved form, bidoof," Dawn said to May. "And you can find bidoof pretty much everywhere. I'm surprised you didn't notice since there was probably an army of them just in the Great Marsh. Bidoof is pretty much the regional pokemon of Sinnoh."

"But...its abilities..." May mumbled, then hung her head in shame. "I can't believe I mistook Sinnoh's Linoone for a rare pokemon..."

"Well, I can see how you might be confused if you went by the pokedex," Dawn said to her. "So try not to..." Dawn was cut off by a low grumbling sound, which seemed to come from the skorupi.

"-Sorry. I still haven't eaten today,-" the skorupi said.

"-Food is good,-" May's Bibarel added.

"Ah...guess I should get this guy something to eat by the sound of it," Dawn said, smiling.

"R-right!" May said, smiling sheepishly. "Let's get them some food then."

"-That'd be nice, finding food in the marsh was pretty hard.-" the skorupi said, nodding. "-By the way, has anyone seen my family around? I seem to have been removed from them.-" The girls headed out of the building, seemingly ignoring the skorupi's question and motioning for the two pokemon to follow them. The skorupi shrugged and followed along behind them, not one to turn down a meal.

"By the way, what are you going to do now?" Dawn asked May.

"I'm still looking for someone here in Sinnoh, so I was thinking of heading to Sunnyshore next," May said, then looked over at Dawn. "What about you?"

"I'm heading to Veilstone next, that's kinda in the same direction actually," Dawn said. "Why don't we go together as far as the Grand Lake Hotel?"

May nodded to her. "Sure! I still have to see you battle, afterall!" May said. "I wonder what the chances are we'll find a pair of trainers along the way for a double battle? That'd make things interesting..."

_I think that's just wishful thinking_, Dawn thought, grinning sheepishly. _I've gotten this far and it only happened once, so what are the chances it'll happen again?_

* * *

Author's Notes: Fun fact, mother scorpions will eat their young if they're having trouble finding food. They also have said tiny scorpion babies riding around on their backs too. Or maybe that was just a certain species of scorpion, I'm not sure now...

Well, this was one capture for Dawn that was pretty much unplanned for me. With that said, I'm open to options as far as names go. I'm sure there's no shortage of potential names (and will probably look some up later) but, then again, I thought the same for landsharks and it turned out most videogames don't name their landsharks.

Something interesting to keep in mind for Bibarel. I tend to have pokemon having both their abilities when applicable since I see no reason outside of game mechanics for that not to be the case. Thus Bibarel is capable of getting double the benefit of stat-increasing techniques and denying any benefit from its opponent. In that way, Bibarel makes me think of Blackbelt from 8-bit theatre. Because he's so stupid he warps reality. But Bibarel isn't stupid. Bibarel is a proud and noble pokemon from a particularly cold region.

Wonder if anyone caught the reference with the end of that chase scene...

...And, funny story it seems. Last night, after staying up a bit late to finish this, I had uploaded it to the site and was making a few final edits. Then, just as I was going to add the chapter to the story, I get locked out due to a scheduled maintenance. So, I apologize for the delay. If I had been only a few minutes earlier though...


	19. Chapter 19: Side Order of Battles

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 19**

**Side Order of Battles**

After leaving Pastoria, Dawn and May journeyed together as they travelled across Route 213. The journey was fairly uneventful, and May did not find the double battle she had hoped for. Now, the two of them stood just outside the doors of the famous Grand Lake Hotel, their journey together seemingly over.

"Well that was lame," May grumbled, folding her arms. "Across that entire route there wasn't anyone interested in a double battle..."

"There were those two kids with the innertubes," Dawn said to her.

"I wasn't going to battle little kids though, it'd make me look bad," May said, then turned and looked at the hotel. "Anyway, I guess this is as far as we go together, but we might as well grab something to eat while we're here."

"Going to a hotel just to eat seems odd somehow, especially the Grand Lake Hotel," Dawn said, looking up at the building now as well. "I hear they have pretty nice suites here with a good view of Lake Valor."

"It doesn't make any difference!" May reached back and grabbed Dawn by the hand. "Come on! Let's go in, already!" May opened the doors with one hand while pulling Dawn inside with the other. As soon as she was inside, she stopped in front of the door and her jaw went slack.

_She's almost as bad as Barry sometimes!_ Dawn thought as May pulled her in. She blinked when she realized May had already stopped and then looked ahead to see what she was staring at. When she saw it, Dawn's jaw immediately dropped as well.

"Bidoof! Go! Finish it with Tackle!" a young brown-haired girl in school uniform called out. Her bidoof charged across the battlefield marked out on the floor in the middle of the restaurant, tackling into a dark blue fish pokemon with a tail like a butterfly's wings. The fish pokemon was knocked back a few feet and laid still when it came to a stop.

"Oh no! My poor finneon!" an older, blonde-haired trainer carrying an expensive-looking purse whined. She recalled her fallen pokemon and slid the pokeball into her purse.

"Worry not, Gabriella, I can take care of things from here," a man in a reddish-colored trenchcoat assured her. With a smirk, he pulled the tip of his wide-brimmed hat down slightly. "Goldeen, attack the old man's bronzor with Water Pulse!" Goldeen, another fish pokemon looking a bit out of place on the dry battlefield, complied and fired a blue ring of water from its mouth. The blue ring struck a floating, gear-like disk at the other side of the field and splashed off with little effect.

"It will take more than that to defeat my bronzor, and watch who you call old!" a man dressed in a garb that made him look like a samurai called back. "Bronzor, show them your true strength! Extrasensory!" The bronzor's body flashed, sending out a pulse of psychic energy. The goldeen cried out in pain as this pulse reached it, the force of the energy throwing it back. Like the other fish pokemon, it landed on its back and was down and out.

With the battle over, applause erupted from diners gathered on the higher level. The lower level of the restaurant was reserved for battles such as the one that had just taken place. Near the rear of the battlefield a flight of stairs lead to a raised dining area that wrapped around the entire battlefield. Everyone dining in the restaurant had a full view of the battles.

"Dawn, did we just really witness that?" May asked, still stunned by the sight.

"I...think so," Dawn said. "Come to think of it, I remember hearing there was a restaurant where diners could battle pokemon, the Seven Stars Restaurant. I didn't know that was the name of the Grand Lake Hotel restaurant, though..."

"Is there anything I can help you girls with?" a waiter asked, approaching the girls from the side. May almost immediately blurted out her response, turning to the waiter with a wide grin.

"YEAH! We want to get in on a battle like that!" May said, pointing toward the restaurant's battlefield.

"Very good. I shall find you a pair to battle, then," the waiter said, then went up to the dining area to find a pair of diners willing to battle May and Dawn.

"Even though this place was always here, it still seems kinda convenient that our last stop together is where we would finally find a double battle," Dawn said. "I wonder which pokemon I should use? I kinda want to try Assassin in a battle."

"Assassin?" May asked, looking over at her curiously.

"It's what I named the skorupi I caught!" Dawn replied, grinning. "I thought it was a pretty fitting name. Coming up with a name for a skorupi was harder than I thought, though..."

"Nicknames?" May let out a sigh. "Rina bugged me about those once. Said something like, 'How can you claim to love your pokemon if you don't even give them nicknames!?'" Dawn blinked and was about to ask about Rina, but just then the waiter returned with two trainers following behind him.

"These two will be your opponents, girls," the waiter said, then stepped aside and gestured to the two trainers. One was a cyan-haired reporter in a black blouse and white skirt, while the other had a camera hanging from around his neck. He wore a ball cap, muscle shirt, and jeans.

"The name's Valerie!" the reporter said. "We came here to report on the food, but it we'll accept your challenge!"

"I'm the camerman, Darryl, and I'll get the battle all on this here camera!" Darryl then grinned and held up the camera with one hand, focusing his viewfinder on Dawn and May.

_I'm having flashbacks to Gabby and Ty all of a sudden!_ May thought, grimacing. Her encounter with the two reporters back in Hoenn was not one of her favorite experiences.

"As you two seem to be new here, I will explain the rules," the waiter said, then went on to explain. "Each trainer participating in the double battle is allowed one pokemon. The battle is declared over when both yours or the opponent's pokemon are knocked out. Other than that, standard pokemon league rules apply. Good luck." With the explanations done, the waiter returned to the upper level to service the other diners.

"Then I'll lead off with Flygon!" May said as she took a pokeball from her belt. "After having him fly me around so much its only fair that I let him have a battle. Flygon, come on out!" The pokeball in May's hand opened up and out came Flygon. Flygon had a determined look in his eyes, eager to get a fight in.

_May's pokemon is a dragon-type just like Bahamut, I wonder how strong it is? _Dawn wondered while she retrieved a pokeball with a green camouflage motif. "I'll use the pokemon I just caught, then! Assassin, I choose you!" Dawn held out the pokeball and it opened up to release Assassin, her recently caught skorupi, onto the restaurant's battlefield.

"Murkrow! You'll battle this time!" Valerie took a pokeball in her hand and released her pokemon, sending out a black feathered bird with head feathers that looked like a hat. The bird pokemon had a wicked glint in its eye.

"Pikachu, go! Let's put on a show!" Darryl drew a pokeball with his free hand, sending out a very familiar electric-type pokemon. The pikachu grinned and dropped down on all fours while electricity sparked from its cheeks. It was ready to go.

"Ok, Assassin, come here for a second," Dawn said. Everyone looked at her curiously as Assassin turned and walked toward her.

"Umm...what are you doing?" May asked her, blinking.

"It's a new strategy I came up with!" Dawn replied with a wide grin on her face. "I'll teach Assassin a new command word so he'll use one technique, then immediately follow it up with another!"

"New strategy? But that's against official league rules," May said to her.

"It...is?" Dawn asked, blinking in disbelief. May nodded to her.

"Any training, which that would qualify as, is not permitted during a battle," May said to her, as if quoting from a rulebook. "If you want to use a strategy like that then you'll have to go over it with your pokemon during training."

"Oh...umm...whoops?" Dawn blushed and rubbed the back of her head, then looked down at Assassin and motioned for her to move away. "Nevermind, we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way."

Assassin shrugged her pincers. "-I don't get it either way.-" She then moved back out onto the battlefield to start the battle properly.

"Ok, let's get this started now! Flygon, attack the murkrow with Dragon Claw!" Flygon raised one clawed hand back and flew toward Murkrow. An orange glow surrounded Flygon's claws, forming an extention. In the blink of an eye, Flygon closed the gap between him and Murkow and made an upward slash with his claws. Murkrow let out an anguished squawking, thrust upward and back by the force of Flygon's attack and landing with a hard thud just behind its trainer.

"Murkrow?!" Valerie cried out in shock. Murkrow groaned and slowly stood up, straining to gather its strength. Though it had managed to endure Flygon's attack, it was just barely. Valerie looked at May with a shocked expression. This can't be for real! My murkrow has been through countless battles, it wouldn't go down this easy against any ordinary opponent!

"Hey, hey, hey! We might have found some interesting trainers, here!" Darryl said, flashing a grin as he captured the scene on camera. "Pikachu, let's test this other one then! Use Double Team and circle around it!" Pikachu nodded and charged toward Assassin, its body becoming a blur. When the pikachu started to run around her, it started to look like multiple pikachus until there was an entire ring around her.

_I'm not an amazing trainer like her, so I'll have to work harder so I don't look bad next to her!_ Dawn thought. "Assassin, don't let a technique like that throw you off! Fire a layer of toxic spikes into that pikachu's path!"

"-Got it!-" Assassin said, nodding. Though she couldn't see the pikachu, the path it was following was clear. Assassin launched several poisonous spikes from her tail, scattering them in front of her. The images crossed harmlessly until the real pikachu stumbled across them. The images vanished and the pikachu tripped and fell onto its face, the spikes staggering it and inflicting poison.

_Not bad, but he was obviously just testing her ability_, May thought to herself.

"Murkrow! Night Shade!" Valerie called out suddenly. Her murkrow flew over her shoulder and created an illusion of its body expanding, casting a dark shadow over Flygon that sent a slight chill through his body. Flygon barely felt it, though, and glared at the murkrow.

"You can't be serious! We nearly knocked your murkrow out with one attack and you want to keep going!?" May said to Valerie.

"As long as my pokemon can fight, we'll keep fighting!" Valerie replied, her murkrow nodding in agreement. "We couldn't call ourselves reporters otherwise!"

_I'm starting to hate reporters_, May thought. "Flygon, finish this! Dragonbreath!" Flygon opened his mouth and breathed, sending out a blast of bluish flames at the murkrow. Murkrow didn't hold up long after the flames hit it, dropping to the ground shortly after. With that, Valerie finally conceded and recalled her pokemon.

"Then I guess it's all up to us, pikachu!" Darryl said. His pikachu quickly rolled onto its feet and nodded in agreement. "Let's make another attack on this one before that beast of a dragon turns on us! Thundershock!" Pikachu jumped back and fired a blast of electricity from its cheeks. Assassin cried out in pain as the electricity flowed through her body.

"We'll end this before that! Assassin, Scary Face!" Assassin shook off the attack and cast a menacing glare at Pikachu. The pikachu gulped nervously and stepped back, intimidated by the glare.

"Now! Follow up with Night Slash!" Assassin shot forward while the pikachu was still intimidated by her Scary Face technique, a purple glow surrounding the pincers on her tail. Taking careful aim she lashed out with her tail, managing to catch the pikachu's neck in her pincers. Both pincers slashed the front of Pikachu's neck. Pikachu cried out in pain and staggered back, clutching its throat with its tiny paws.

"Heh, was that the Sniper ability I wonder?" Darryl said, grinning to himself while he filmed the scene. "With that ability, when a skorupi hits a pokemon's weakpoint, it hurts a lot! I bet you're feeling that now, aren'tcha pal?" Darryl's pikachu nodded weakly, still feeling a stinging sensation in its neck.

_A lucky shot, but Dawn definitely has this one covered_, May thought to herself. Then, suddenly, the pikachu collapsed, and May remembered the poisonous spikes it had tripped over. _N-never mind...guess its over..._

"-Yay! I won!-" Assassin cheered, raising a claw into the air. "-I can't wait to tell Mom and the others!-"

"Darn. Forgot about that," Darryl said, though he didn't looke the least bit upset as he put his camera down and then recalled his pikachu. "That's it, then! You two are pretty good!"

"Very," Valerie added, eying May and her Flygon. "A shame we couldn't test these girls further. I'm curious about how strong they are, now." With that, Valerie finally left the battlefield alongside Darryl. Applause erupted from all around May and Dawn, from the diners on the second level.

"Well that's kinda disappointing, the battle was too easy," May said, then shrugged. "Oh well, at least we got one. Flygon, good job. You can rest now." May then took Flygon's pokeball in hand, recalled him, and placed the pokeball back on her belt.

_I didn't embarrass myself at least, but I know now that I need to work on strategies outside of battle_, Dawn thought, then held out Assassin's pokeball. "Assassin, great work!" she said to Assassin. "You can go back into your pokeball now." Assassin nodded and didn't say another word as Dawn recalled her.

"Bravo! Splendid performance, girls!" a teenage boy said to the girls. The applause abruptly ended when the rest of the diners noticed him standing next to a girl in a white dress. "My name is Roman and this is Kylie," he said, gesturing to the girl next to him. "Perhaps you two would be interested in another battle, against the two of us?"

"Another battle? Already?" Dawn said in disbelief. "But we came here to eat!"

May folded her arms and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I've had my battle and now I want to see what kind of pasta this place has," she said.

"Then perhaps we could sweeten the deal?" Kyrlie said with a smile. "Should you defeat Roman and I, then you may eat all you like for free. Our parents both run this restaurant, you see."

"In that case, you're on!" May replied, grinning. "I never turn down a free meal!"

"We just have one stipulation, then," Roman said. "The pantsless one shall fight Kylie, and you shall fight me, May. If one of you loses, you both lose. Designated partners aside, it will be an ordinary double battle."

Dawn's eye twitched and she clenched her fists at Roman's name for her. _'Pantsless one'!? Why does he have to call me something like that!?_ Dawn wondered. _And what's with that change in the rules? Even I can tell that it's a set-up! There's no way someone like May would..._

"We accept!" Came May's eventual response, causing Dawn to nearly fall over from the shock. "You okay, Dawn?" May asked when she noticed this.

"F-fine..." Dawn mumbled. _Guess whether or not we get a free meal out of this falls upon me then. Here's hoping Kylie isn't some amazing trainer I've never heard of..._

Roman and Kylie walked down the steps to the battlefield, then each took a pokeball in their hands to call out their pokemon. Roman released a pokemon that seemed almost salamander-like with an extremely long tongue and a pink body, and Kylie's pokemon was a small, somewhat star-shaped fairy pokemon.

_I take it back, there's no way that thing could be a threat_, Dawn thought, rolling her eyes when she saw Kylie's pokemon.

"These two will be your opponents," Roman said. "My Lickitung and Kylie's Cleffa."

"Ha! These two will be a piece of cake!" May said, grinning as she took a pokeball from her belt. "Ok, Blaziken, I'll let you handle this one! Go!" she called out as she released her pokemon. Blaziken appeared on the battlefield, letting out a loud battlecry and flexing his arms. "Blaziken was my first pokemon, he won't go down easily!"

"Ok, I'll use my first pokemon, too!" Dawn said as she took a pokeball in her hand. "Bowser!" The pokeball opened up, releasing Bowser from his pokeball. Bowser grunted and looked in dismay at the small cleffa.

"-This is what I'm up against? Seriously!? That thing doesn't look threatening at all!-" Bowser said.

"Blaziken, start things off! Sky Uppercut!" Blaziken dashed toward Roman's Lickitung, keeping low to the ground, then bolted up as he approached. Blaziken's fist grazed across the front of Lickitung's body and struck it in the jaw, throwing it back through the air. It landed at its trainer's feat, completely unconscious.

"Alright! That free meal is as good as our's!" May cheered, raising her hand into the air. As Roman recalled his pokemon, though, May noticed a smirk on his face. "Hey! What's with that smirk? My Blaziken kicked your pokemon's butt!"

"That may be, but did you forget the rule you just agreed to?" Roman said to her, then pointed toward the two pokemon battling next to them.

"Cleffa, use Sing, please!" Kylie said to her pokemon. Cleffa began to sing and the slower Bowser, who had yet to act, suddenly dropped to the ground and was fast asleep.

_What was his point just now? Bowser's asleep now, but we'll make up for it when he wakes up_, Dawn thought.

"Now you may use Belly Drum, Cleffa!" Kylie said. Cleffa began beating on its chest with its tiny hands, drawing out an immense power within itself but cutting its own health in half.

Dawn's jaw dropped. _Ok, nevermind. This is BAD! _She looked at Bowser desparately and said, "Bowser, this would be a really good time to wake up!" Unfortunately, her words didn't seem to reach him as he was still sound asleep and snoring away.

"If she loses, I lose, and I can't help her because of the rules I agreed to..." May mumbled, eyes widening in disbelief. Clenching a fist, she turned and glared at Roman. "You were targetting Dawn from the start! But why!?"

"Simple, May. Publicity," Roman said. May gave him a puzzled expression. "As you put it, if Dawn loses, you lose. Therefore, on this day, May Maple, champion of Hoenn, will have lost in this very restaurant. Even if it's only a technicality, people would flock to the Seven Star Restaurant from all over once news gets out!"

"You...you fiend!" May growled. Blaziken growled as well and slammed his fists together, scattering small embers.

"-Just say the word and I'll snap this jerk's neck.-"

Roman smiled and shrugged. "You can call me a fiend, but it's just business, dear. I saw the opportunity to increase our profits and played my hand." He then turned to Kylie and said, "You may end this any time you like, Kylie."

"Then I shall do so immediately, Roman! Cleffa, dear! Pound!" Cleffa grinned and ran across the floor, charging toward the sleeping Bowser.

"Our free meal is slipping away!" May said, then turned to Dawn. "Isn't there anything you can..." May stopped mid-sentence when she saw the smirk on Dawn's face. Dawn was unperturbed even as the cleffa struck, smashing Bowser in the face and throwing him onto his back.

"And now it's all over," Roman said, but then finally took notice of the smirk on Dawn's face as well and frowned. "What's with that smirk? Kylie's pokemon just pounded your pokemon into the dirt! There's no way it could survive her attack!"

"Though it didn't make any difference, saying something like that just guarantees it," Dawn said to Roman. Just then, Bowser rocked back, then rolled forward and onto his feet, shaking off the blow from the cleffa.

"That...that's impossible!" Roman yelled in shock. "What pokemon could possibly be strong enough to withstand a physical attack after a Belly Drum!?"

"No one's ever survived Cleffa's Pound attack! Who are you!?" Kylie added.

Yep! That's about the reaction I wanted! Dawn thought to herself. "Bowser, remember the strategy we used against Brendan?" Bowser thought for a moment and then nodded. "Right! We're going to do THAT!"

_Does she have some kind of plan?_ May wondered, watching as Bowser withdrew into his shell.

"That won't protect you! Cleffa, another Pound!" Kylie called out desparately. Cleffa jumped, using its extra power to propel itself into the air, then came down and slammed its fist hard into Bowser's back. "There! That definitely finishes it!" Kylie said. Her cleffa bounced off Bowser's back to land in front of him.

"Excellent, work, Kylie," Roman said, a smirk crossing his lips. "To think I was worried for a second there." He looked toward Bowser just to make sure he was down, then gasped in shock. A green glow had surrounded Bowser's body and the bushes on his back grew. "That...that ability!"

"Alright, Bowser, now's your chance! Finish this!" Dawn called out. Several seeds then suddenly fired out of the front of Bowser's shell, catching Cleffa completely by surprised. The seeds struck it and exploded on contact, and the explosion threw Cleffa back to its trainer's feet where Kylie could clearly see the dazed expression on her pokemon's face. It was out cold.

"We...we lost?" Kylie mumbled, stunned by her defeat.

_Hmm. These two aren't half bad_, Blaziken thought, folding his arms. _Not even close to our level, but not bad._

"Wow, I can't believe that combination worked again!" Dawn said, grinning widely. "Ok, I think we'll call that the Shell and Seed technique!"

"-Shell and Seed, huh?-" Bowser said, then nodded. "-Kinda catchy.-"

_I guess I was worried for nothing. Even after Belly Drum, you can't expect an attack like Pound to knock out everything so easily_, May thought, then took Blaziken's pokeball in her hand. "Ok, Blaziken, we're done here now. Return!" May recalled Blaziken, then placed the pokeball on her belt and looked toward Roman and Kaylie with a smirk on her face.

"Now, if I'm not mistaken, I think you owe us a free meal!" May said to him.

"...Fine. I did say that," Roman said, then turned to walk up the stairs. "Order whatever you want. I'll inform the staff."

"Beaten by a nobody of a trainer...I will never live this down." Kylie said, then recalled her cleffa and followed along behind him.

_Why am I a nobody now?! I still have a heart, you know!_ Dawn thought, twitching.

"That was quite the technique you pulled off there, did, uh, Melany show you that one?" May asked Dawn. Dawn shook her head and smiled at her.

"Nope! She did suggest I give more thought to strategy, but I came up with it on my own after that," Dawn said to her.

"-I beat down a fire pokemon with it!-" Bowser said, sounding rather proud of himself.

"You seem like you're a pretty good trainer, though. Ever consider challenging the Sinnoh League?" May asked.

"I'm not that interested, and I definitely couldn't beat someone like Cynthia," Dawn replied. "Anyway, aren't we going to eat? We DID just win a free meal!"

"Yeah, I think we've put THAT off long enough!" May said, nodding in agreement. Dawn then recalled Bowser and the two of them quickly found a table so they could finally get their meal.

* * *

Dawn and May spent some time in the Seven Stars Restaurant, May not being content to leave until she had tried every kind of pasta on the menu. Since it seemed like she'd be a while, Dawn tried a few of the desserts. When they were finally finished eating, they left the restaurant but didn't go very far before stopping again. They had reached an area where Route 222 and the Valor Lakefront met.

"I guess this is where we finally say goodbye then," May said to Dawn. "I'm glad I had the chance to meet one of Sinnoh's pokedex holders!"

"And I was able to meet another famous person!" Dawn said. "Anyway, I hope you find whoever you're looking for in Sunnyshore!"

"Err...right, about that..." May hesitated for a moment and scuffed her foot against the ground. "If you see Melany, could you tell her...umm..." May fell silent for a moment again and Dawn looked at her expectantly.

"Tell her what?" Dawn asked.

"Tell her...tell her nothing!" May said, waving her hands around. "You never saw me here in Sinnoh, ok!?"

"Umm...ok?" Dawn blinked. "See you around then."

"Right! Bye!" May said, then quickly ran off toward Route 222.

"Couldn't be Melany she's looking for, could it?" Dawn wondered aloud, then shook her head. "No, that's silly. She definitely would have said so if she was..." Dawn stood and silently watched for a moment as May ran off into the distance until a thought struck her.

_Just WHERE does all that pasta she eats go!?_

* * *

Author's Notes: I wish Belly Drum was the end-all-be-all of physical attacking. If it was, then my Poliwag having only Double-Slap wouldn't be so much of an issue. Even after a Belly Drum I still need to hit three times or more with that...

Anyway, that's it for May for now. Definitely won't find what she's looking for in Sunnyshore, though.

I wonder what it will take to get Dawn to start challenging gym leaders?


	20. Chapter 20: Split Screen

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 20**

**Split Screen**

_Where is she? I want to get this over with already!_ Melany thought impatiently. She stood alone outside the entrance to a stone temple. After crossing a wintry wasteland, Melany had finally arrived at Snowpoint with Rina. Snowpoint itself, however, was hardly any better. The snow was still deep, and the temperature still below freezing. The only saving grace was that Snowpoint wasn't in the middle of a blizzard. Even so, Rina remained in the pokecenter to stay warm. Only Melany had to go through the temple.

"Hahaha! You've got a lot of guts coming all the way up here to Snowpoint, Hoenner!" A voice said from behind Melany, causing the girl to shudder. "Yeesh! Just looking at you in that heavy jacket is making me feel warm!"

"You must be Candice," Melany said dryly, turning around to face her. She was shocked when she finally saw the girl as she wore a tan skirt, white shirt, and a blue sweater tied uselessly around her waist. "I take that back...you must be insane."

"Yeah, I get that from you southerners a lot," Candice said, smirking. "I say the same thing back everytime, too." Candice pointed a finger at her and then said, "Take off that jacket! The cold might actually toughen you up a bit!"

"This jacket is nice and warm, so I'll pass," Melany replied, narrowing her eyes at the girl. "Can we get on with this? The sooner I'm done in this temple, the sooner I can get back to the less cold part of Sinnoh."

Candice grinned. "Ah, no need to rush!" she said to Melany, then stepped closer and leaned in to whisper to her. "Besides, I know of some 'fun' ways to warm up if it gets too cold for ya!" Candice then walked past her, leaving her stunned.

_Was she really just..._

"Hey! Don't be impatient about getting into the temple and then just stand around!" Candice yelled at her.

_...Yeah, this is going to be a long trip_, Melany thought, letting out a sigh. Reluctantly, she followed Candice into the temple. Though she would have preferred to go alone, it was only with Candice's permission that she could even get in at all.

_As much as I hate it though, having a partner might not be a bad idea_, she thought. _Rowan was pretty vague on what's in this temple, who knows what might be waiting inside..._

* * *

"Bowser, use Withdraw! Conker, Spark!" At Dawn's command, Bowser quickly withdrew into his shell while Conker charged toward him with electricity coursing around his body. Conker slammed into Bowser from the front with a tackle-like attack, dealing minimal damage to the defending grass-type.

_Yeah, no matter what way I look at it, it's pretty obvious any pokemon going for a close range physical attack from the start can be countered with Shell and Seed_, Dawn thought, nodding to herself. _The only exception would be a trainer who already knew I'd use that kind of strategy. Makes a good one-shot surprise tactic at least._

Shortly after splitting up from May, Dawn had decided to take a brief stop near the shore of Lake Valor. Her reasoning for this, of course, was to train her pokemon. Specifically, she wanted to work on special moves with her pokemon such as Bowser's Shell and Seed technique. Little did she know, she had a spectator.

"Hard at it I see." Dawn nearly froze when she heard the voice and slowly turned around to see the blonde-haired woman walking toward her.

"C-cynthia!" Dawn stuttered out when she saw her.

"Hmm? Something wrong?" Cynthia asked her, a smirk on her face as she stopped only a few feet away from the girl.

"N-no! Of course not! I'm just surprised, that's all!" Dawn replied, waving her hands in front of her.

"-Who's Cynthia?-" Conker asked Bowser. Bowser popped his head out of his shell to take a look.

"-Beats me. I've never seen her before.-" Bowser said to him.

"I'm curious as to what sort of techniques you use in battle, would you mind if I watched you train for a bit?" Cynthia asked Dawn, flashing her a smile.

"Not at all! Just...just excuse me a second!" Dawn said, then ran over to speak with Conker and Bowser.

"Listen up, you two! We can't screw up in front of someone like Cynthia! She's the champion of Sinnoh's Elite Four!" Dawn whispered to them. Her pokemon stared back at her in shock.

"-How do we know someone like THAT!?-" Bowser asked her.

"So here's the deal, we'll do the same thing again, only this time you'll follow through completely with your Shell and Seed technique, ok?" Dawn said to her pokemon. They both nodded and quickly moved into position. Bowser braced himself, readying for Conker's eventual attack, and Conker waited for Dawn to give the order.

"Conker, you know what to do! Attack Bowser with Spark!" Dawn called out. Conker nodded and charged toward Bowser, gathering electricity around him. Bowser withdrew into his shell long before Conker would reach him and Conker merely bounced off when he attacked as a result. Bowser followed up by firing a burst of seeds from the front opening of his shell, which Conker anticipated and quickly sidestepped. He already knew the strategy.

"I'm sure you put a lot of thought into that technique, but it certainly isn't very impressive to watch two of your own pokemon battling in such a way," Cynthia said to her.

Dawn's shoulders drooped. She's right...that was lame to watch and I bet she didn't understand it at all...

"I can certainly see what you're trying to do, though," Cynthia then said with a smile, surprising Dawn. "You've realized that by using Withdraw against a frontal assault, your opponent will be left open to a follow-up attack from your grotle. So you've taught it to take advantage of that opening with a Seed Bomb."

"Right! I've called it Shell and Seed!" Dawn replied, nodding enthusiastically. "If I call that out, my opponent will have no idea what Bowser's going to do! So they'll be caught completely off guard!"

"Oh? But one opponent won't be now, if you ever battle her," Cynthia said.

"EHHH!?" Dawn quickly shook her head. "N-no way! I could never battle you! My pokemon would get pounded flat in no time!"

"-How boring. I'd definitely want to fight someone like that,-" Conker said, looking disappointed. Bowser then emerged from his shell and nodded in agreement.

"-We've fought tough competition before and didn't back down! So what if she's the champion? We won't know if we can take her until we try!"

"You know, I didn't become champion of Sinnoh's Elite Four overnight," Cynthia said to Dawn, walking past the younger girl and staring out toward Lake Valor. "I started as a young trainer just like you. Though..." Cynthia chuckled. "That seems like such a long time ago now. I wonder how much longer it will be until a trainer finally defeats me to become Sinnoh's champion?"

_She's been completely undefeated since joining the Pokemon League_, Dawn thought. _Cynthia really is an amazing person...I wonder how she compares to people like May or Melany?_

"I've been looking into your background a bit ever since that encounter," Cynthia said, turning to face Dawn again and placing her right hand on her hip. "It's interesting, to me at least. You seem to be quite capable when you put your mind to it, which leads me to wonder why a trainer like you wouldn't have attempted to obtain another badge. You're not letting one loss get you down, are you?"

One loss? Is she talking about my battle against Roark? Dawn thought, then said to Cynthia, "Actually, I'm not interested in collecting badges. That time I was just showing off...kinda..."

"Hmm. I see." Cynthia smiled faintly. _Rowan certainly picks the interesting ones, doesn't he?_

"So... umm... you didn't come all the way out here to ask me that, did you?" Dawn asked Cynthia. Cynthia chuckled and shook her head.

"Of course not." Cynthia replied, then looked over her shoulder toward the lake. "I came out here to investigate Lake Valor, but it seems my timing couldn't be worse. There's already researchers here laying claim to the lake."

Blinking, Dawn looked in the same direction as Cynthia and saw the researchers she was talking about. During her training, Dawn didn't even notice they were there. Now that they had been pointed out to her, though, she noticed not only the researchers, but the individuals among them dressed like spacemen.

"Team Galactic!? They're still around!?" Dawn said in disbelief. "But we caught them up to no good in Eterna City!"

"According to Cyrus, their leader, that was a group that decided to break off and do their own thing," Cynthia said to Dawn. "We couldn't confirm whether or not the group that was in Eterna still works for him, but there do seem to be many within Team Galactic with...differing ideals. They seem to mean well, but I think it'd be for the best to keep an eye on them..."

_Come to think of it, Team Galactic even has their own commercials, don't they?_ Dawn thought to herself. _Either they really do have some greater good in mind or they're doing a good job of hiding their real goals..._

"-So Dawn fought these Team Galactic people a second time,-" Bowser noted curiously. "-I wonder what that means?-"

"-I think we need to be careful about them too,-" Conker said. Bowser nodded in agreement.

"In any case, I believe I will be staying here a while to monitor the situation," Cynthia said, then turned to Dawn. "By the way, how did things turn out with the egg I gave you?"

"The egg? Well..." Dawn took a pokeball from her belt and then released Eggman. "See for yourself," she said to Cynthia. Eggman and Cynthia looked at each other curiously for a moment before Eggman turned to Dawn and stretched out his hands toward her.

"How cute! He wants you to pick him up!"

"No," Dawn said, taking out her DS and handing it to Eggman. "He wants this." To Cynthia's surprise, the young togepi turned the handheld video game system on all by itself and began playing.

_A pokemon...that plays video games?_ Cynthia blinked in disbelief. _What an unusual phenomenon... _She then cleared her throat and said to Dawn, "Well, in any case, mind if I see what else your pokemon are capable of while I'm here? I'd be particularly curious about this little one..."

"I'll see if I can pry that away from him." Dawn reached down to grab the DS, but Eggman yanked it out of the way. "This might take a while..." Dawn said, then made another failed attempt to grab the DS.

_A peculiar pokemon indeed_, Cynthia thought.

* * *

Back at the Snowpoint Temple, Melany and Candice had made their way through the floors of the temple to arrive at the bottom level. This final level consisted of one large room with a white golem pokemon sitting in the center of an icy floor. Three platforms, each bearing different symbols, formed a triangle around it.

"That pokemon!" Melany said, gasping when she saw the white golem. She ran out to investigate but slipped and fell on the icy floor.

"Typical, not at all used to ice," Candice said, smirking.

"Oh, shut up," Melany retorted as she slowly, carefully stood up and moved back off the ice. "I just wasn't thinking..."

"Of course," Candice replied, then looked up toward the golem. "So, what do you make of that thing, then? You seem pretty excited about it."

"Well, in terms of appearance, it bears a very strong resemblance to three pokemon I found in Hoenn. Regice, Regirock, and Registeel," Melany explained, narrowing her eyes at the golem. "But...where would this fourth golem have come from, then? And why is it so much...bigger than the others?"

"Why would there only be three?" Candice asked, folding her arms and tilting her head to the side.

_Because if this really IS a fourth golem, then SOMEONE owes me an explanation_, Melany thought. _But now that I think of it, the ancient writings in Hoenn that I thought referred to the three golems make more sense if they refer to a single pokemon. If that's the case, then the three I have..._ Melany looked around the room, noticing the raised platforms, and smirked to herself.

"Of course. I think I understand now," Melany said. Avoiding the ice, she walked over to the platform on the left side of the room an examined the symbol. "Right... this one is definitely ice," she said, nodding.

"Well that does seem to be a common theme around here," Candice said, looking over at her. "By the way, ever think of growing a ponytail? I think it'd suit you!"

That's incredibly off-topic, so I'll ignore it, Melany thought. "Ice happens to be the type of one of the other golems." Melany took a pokeball from her belt and stood back from the platform, then released what looked like a giant block of ice with a vaguely humanoid shape. "Regice, I want you to..." Before Melany could even finish speaking, Regice turned toward the white golem and lowered its arms to its sides.

"Well that was...odd," Melany said, blinking, then shrugged and continued toward the platform at the far end of the room.

"Do you actually know what you're doing?" Candice asked her. "You don't even know what might happen when you position those pokemon! What if that thing wakes up and goes on a rampage?" In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Candice didn't sound overly concerned. She herself knew that no lone pokemon, legendary or otherwise, could actually stand up to the two trainers present.

"That'd be about the worst that could happen, and not something I'm too worried about either," Melany replied. She stopped in front of the rear platform and took another pokeball from her belt. From this one she released another large golem built entirely from rocks. The golem's long arms hung down at its sides and it turned to face the white golem at the center of the room.

"Thought so. That's two down now," Melany said, then headed toward the platform on the right side of the room. _If that pokemon in the center really does turn out to be hostile, then I'll already have three pokemon surrounding it anyway_, she thought to herself.

Arriving at the last platform, Melany repeated the procedure and released Registeel from its pokeball. Like with the last two, the steel golem pokemon turned toward the larger white one and let its arms hang loosely at its sides. With all three pokemon in position, their eyes began to flash repeatedly and they let out a loud cry. Fearing for her safety, Melany quickly backed away.

"Well, guess I know they're not just for decoration now!" Melany said, then turned around to see what kind of an effect it was having on the mystery golem. Her attention was drawn toward six gems on the golem's chest, forming a column on each side.

Though she hadn't noticed, each had lit up when she placed the pre-requisite golem. The middle gem, blue, lit up when Regice was placed. The top one lit up next in response to Regirock, a reddish colored gem, and a silver bottom pair of gems lit up in response to Registeel. Now, with all gems lit, its body shook and it flexed its fingers, slowly coming to life.

"So those pokemon really do activate that thing," Candice said, observing. "As Snowpoint's gym leader, watching over this temple has always been one of my duties and since that time this thing's just stood here completely motionless. Hard to believe it's finally moving now."

"Certainly taking its time, though," Melany said bitterly. Though the pokemon did seem to be moving, the small black spheres that lined the front of the pokemon's body still weren't it. Melany had come to recognize them as if they were the face of a golem, due to her experience with the others. By now, the lowest sphere had begun to glow.

"So! What are you going to do with this thing anyway?" Candice asked Melany, then smirked. "Don't tell me you actually plan to capture it?"

"Rowan wants to study it. Though he seems pretty satisfied with information the pokedex alone can supply, where I come from 'study' means 'capture it'." Melany then looked back at her. "Problem with that?"

"...Well, I probably shouldn't let some trainer, especially a foreigner, just walk off with a pokemon I've been sworn to protect, but," Candice shrugged. "Even being a gym leader, I can't help thinking I'm not quite on the level of someone who can so casually talk about capturing legendary pokemon. And you ARE doing this for Rowan's research..."

"Good. This won't take long then," Melany said. She then gave commands to each of her pokemon, turning toward them as she addressed them. "Regice, get ready with an Ice Beam. Regirock, Stone Edge. Registeel, Flash Cannon. All three of you attack at once when this thing starts moving." After giving the orders, Melany waited for her pokemon to acknowledge them. There was no sign that they were even listening to her, however.

"Flaw in your strategy?" Candice asked, then grinned. "Hey, you could always let me handle it! I'd love to take a shot at a pokemon like this! I bet that'd be one heck of a fight!"

"Even if I can't use the golems, I have other pokemon," Melany replied.

Once all the spheres had lit up, the white golem let out a loud, robotic cry and raised its arms over its head. Melany looked at her own pokemon, expecting them to finally attack, but something very different seemed to be happening. Instead of attacking, her pokemon had turned into balls of light with colors mimicking their own. The three balls shot off through the temple walls in different directions, disappearing.

"No! The golems!" Melany cried out. In her shock, she didn't notice the white golem aiming one of its large fists at her. Luckily for her, Candice had managed to get a pokemon out, and a pile of brown fur threw itself into the golem and knocked it off its feet.

"Hey! Don't just stand there, fight that thing!" Candice yelled at her. "You can worry about those other pokemon later!"

Melany clenched her teeth. _Easy for you to say! You didn't just have three legendary pokemon taken from you!_ she thought as she took a pokeball from her belt. "We won't waste time with this! Metagross, go!" Melany called out, releasing a mechanical, four-legged pokemon from the pokeball. The pokemon let out a mechanical growl.

"Two on one! Even a legendary pokemon can't stand against these odds!" Candice said, grinning. Her grin faded, though, as that legendary pokemon reached out and grabbed her pilowswine with one of its massive hands. The golem squeezed hard and then slammed Piloswine against the floor, smashing the ice and stone blocks beneath it. The temple shook as a tremor spread out from the point of impact. The golem then let go, leaving Piloswine lying unconscious.

"Holy...what's with that thing's strength!? Is this why it was sealed here!?" Candice said in shock.

"I've seen stronger," Melany said to her. "Ok, Metagross, full power from the start! Meteor Mash!" Metagross spread out its legs and hovered off the ground, then positioned one limb in front of it. As the golem pokemon was getting back up, Metagross shot toward it. A fiery aura surrounded Metagross, emanating from the outstretched limb to give it the appearance of a meteor as it shot into the golem and knocked it over again. Metagross kept going and dropped down behind it.

"That pokemon's pretty powerful, but I wonder what it can do against a ghost?" Candice said, recalling her piloswine and getting ready to send out another pokemon. "Froslass, don't let me down, girl! Shadow Ball!" The pokeball then opened, releasing Candice's Froslass. It immediately cupped its hands together, forming a ball of shadow and firing it at the golem. The Shadow Ball seemed to have no effect on it whatsoever.

"Don't tell me...that thing's actually a normal-type?" Candice said, blinking in disbelief.

"If that's the case, then Metagross can definitely handle it!" Melany said with a smirk, then looked back at Candice. "Don't suppose you've got a pokemon that can put this thing to sleep?" Candice thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Yeah, I've got one. But you're not going to like it." Candice then took another pokeball from her belt and called out her pokemon. "Abomasnow! We're counting on you!" The pokeball opened in her hand, releasing her pokemon but along with it a snowstorm suddenly filled the room. A pokemon looking like a snow-covered pine tree emerged near the downed golem and snow swirled out from its body.

"You weren't kidding..." Melany grumbled, raising a hand to shield her face from the blowing snow.

While Candice was releasing her pokemon, the golem had gotten onto its feet again and turned around to face Metagross. It reached out with one of its large hands to grab and crush Metagross. Unlike with Piloswine, however, Metagross's metal body was able to resist the attack fairly easily. The pokemon's grip was still quite strong, which kept Metagross from being able to pull away.

"Abomasnow, Grasswhistle!" Candice called out. Abomasnow put its leafy hands to its mouth and whistled. The golem's eyes flashed when it heard this whistling, then eventually dimmed. It didn't move at all after that and Metagross was able to pull itself free of the golem's grip.

"Metagross, use Hammer Arm!" Melany called out while reaching into her jacket pocket for something. Metagross flew up and slammed both its forelimbs down on top of the golem's head, smashing it face first into the ground. Melany then threw the object she retrieved, an ultra ball, at the downed golem. It hit the golem, opened, and pulled it inside, but didn't hold it long. Though still asleep, the golem broke out shortly after it began to shake on the shattered floor.

"It broke out? Even after all of that?" Candice said in disbelief.

"Of course. It's a legendary pokemon," Melany replied casually, reaching into her pocket and taking out another ultra ball. "It'll take more than one ball." Melany lobbed the second ultra ball at the golem pokemon. It was pulled inside and the ultra ball began to shake when it dropped to the ground. After a moment, it stopped, and a faint click could be heard. Shortly after it disappeared as it was whisked away to storage.

"And that settles that," Melany said, then turned to face Candice. "Thanks for the help. Now I just need to figure out what to do about the other three..."

"About that, actually, I've heard there are other temples scattered across Sinnoh," Candice said to her. "One's at the frozen top of Mt. Coronet, one's at Iron Island, and one's in a desert. After seeing those golems of your's, I don't think those locations are a coincidence."

"So you think my pokemon might have been scattered to those places for some reason?" Melany asked. Candice nodded. "Well, can't hurt to look into it."

"I'm pretty disappointed in how this turned out, though," Candice said, letting out a sigh. "If I had a better idea of what that pokemon was capable of..."

"But that would be the reason I was sent to capture it," Melany replied. "Even if it wasn't for Rowan, I decided long ago that this is what I want to do. I want to research the legendary pokemon and, in doing so, solve the mysteries of the world."

Candice smirked. "Well it's good that you're focused on that goal, then. Anyway, since we're finished, let's get out of here already."

"Couldn't agree more," Melany replied with a nod. As soon as she got back to the pokemon center, she fully intended to grab Alakazam and teleport somewhere less cold.

* * *

"Huh?" Dawn blinked and scanned the horizon toward the north. Her pokemon, which had all been paired off and sparring, stopped and looked at her curiously.

"Something wrong, Dawn?" Cynthia asked her. Dawn paused for a moment and then shook her head.

"No, I guess not. I just got this...weird feeling all of a sudden..." Dawn said. "Like I could feel something moving across Sinnoh..."

"Perhaps its your desire to get moving again?" Cynthia said to her. "In any case, you certainly have an interesting array of pokemon with you. I'm surprised to see you already have a gible as well." Cynthia scanned Dawn's group of pokemon.

"-Hahaha! I'm not going to fall for a technique like that!-" Bahamut said to Bowser, moving to the side of another Seed Bomb fired by Bowser. Bahamut then folded his arms and turned to face him. "-You can't win battles by hiding in your shell! You should know this already!-"

_How was I supposed to practice Shell and Seed against a pokemon like HIM anyway?_ Bowser wondered, sticking his head out from his shell.

"It's certainly interesting that you've managed to catch a gible already," Cynthia said to Dawn. Of course, that cave is probably easier to access now that the boulder was removed. Come to think of it, wasn't there a case involving holes there going all the way to the underground? Cynthia looked at Dawn curiously for a moment, but shrugged it off and looked toward the next two sparring pokemon.

Conker charged toward Assassin, electricity coursing around him, and ran into her. Assassin seemed to be ready for it this time, though, and braced herself against the attack. She made no attempt to counter the technique, though.

"-No way! I'm not falling for that again!-" Assassin said to Conker. "-You want me to hit you so you can use that really painful technique! That's why you're not hitting me hard!-"

"-I didn't think it'd work a second time either,-" Conker said while backing away from her. "-But Dawn said to practice the technique, so that's what I'm doing!-"

"You've been to the Great Marsh too by the look of things," Cynthia said. "Skorupi are normally desert dwelling pokemon, but they seem to like the Great Marsh. Isn't Thunder Hammer a strange name for Conker's technique?"

"I was rushed!" Dawn said defensively.

The final pair of pokemon were Jax and Eggman, though neither were actually sparring. Jax stood with his arms folded, and an impatient look on his face. Eggman was still sitting in the same spot as before, playing Dawn's DS.

"-I consider myself a pretty relaxed guy, but even by my standards this pokemon is lazy!-" Jax said bitterly. Eggman paid no attention to him and continued playing Dawn's game.

"That togepi's behaviour is also interesting. I wonder where it gets it from?" Cynthia said, looking at the two.

"Oh, well, it couldn't be from me!" Dawn said, holding her hands up defensively. "I'm definitely not someone that's addicted to video games! I only bought that DS for my game-addicted pokemon!"

_Liar. I found it in your travel bag_, Eggman thought while he played, rolling his eyes.

"...I see," Cynthia said, her tone and the smirk on her face suggesting she wasn't quite buying it.

"Well, I guess I should get going then. There's things I want to do in Veilstone," Dawn said, picturing in her mind the large rack of video games that awaited her.

"Then I won't keep you any longer," Cynthia said to her. Dawn nodded and started taking out pokeballs.

"Ok! That's enough training for now, everyone! Let's get moving again!" Her pokemon stopped and nodded to her, and Dawn then immediately started recalling them. The first pokemon to be recalled were Bowser and Bahamut, followed closely by Conker and Assassin.

"-Leaving already? I better be getting a decent fight soon to make up for this,-" Jax grumbled as Dawn finally got around to recalling him. Next, Dawn walked up to Eggman from behind and reached out with one hand to grab her DS from him. Eggman pulled it away, but Dawn was able to grab it with her other hand instead. With her free hand, she took out Eggman's pokeball and recalled him.

"Ok, bye Cynthia! It was nice meeting you again!" Dawn called out, then ran off north toward Veilstone City.

_I wonder how deep the similarities between Dawn and that togepi go?_ Cynthia wondered idly as she watched Dawn leave. She then smiled to herself. _Well, regardless, I'm sure we'll see each other again, Dawn. Until then, _Cynthia looked out toward the lake. _I'll keep watch here._

With Cynthia's back turned, a mud-covered eevee slowly crept by and then chased off after Dawn.

* * *

Author's Notes: This chapter felt like it was more about Melany. And now she needs to track down the other Regi's again. Needless to say, they're in their Platinum locations, but I won't show them all. However, at least one is going to line up conveniently enough with the plot to show it.

Feels like I haven't gotten many opportunities for video game references lately. Or maybe I've just been missing them. Well, next chapter should have a reference or two. And it seems like I'll end up splitting Veilstone into two chapters. Didn't realize how much I wanted to cover in Veilstone, Team Galactic will actually get its own chapter for Veilstone...which will be chapter 22.


	21. Chapter 21: Dusk's Roulette

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 21**

**Dusk's Roulette**

Tension filled the air as the two girls stared each other down. Dawn, having just arrived in Veilstone, was already faced with an old enemy. Only a few feet in front of her stood Dusk, blocking her path.

"Already..." Dawn muttered, glaring at the girl.

"I told you I wasn't done with you yet. I was merely waiting for a plan to come together," Dusk said to her.

"So I've just walked straight into another of your traps?"

"Well, you're not quite there yet, but there won't be any escape for you."

"Tch...after coming so far..." Dawn muttered. "But I won't give up! You're just another obstacle to me, so I'll..."

"Okay, this dialogue is bugging me. It's like the lead-up to a duel between the hero and his arch-nemesis, so cut it out!" Dusk growled, then pointed a finger at Dawn. "Just what's so important in Veilstone that you're acting like this over it!"

"Oh... well... umm..." Dawn twiddled her fingers and glanced off to the side.

"Does this have anything to do with video games?" Dusk asked her. Dawn slowly nodded. "Let me guess, now that you're finally out of the house, you've decided to go to the famed Veilstone Department Store and buy your games in person, haven't you?"

"Umm, you wouldn't be willing to let me go for now to test that theory, would you?" Dawn asked her, smiling sheepishly.

"Just go already!" Dusk yelled, waving her off. "And make it quick, before I change my mind!"

"R-really?" Dawn beamed, then ran up to Dusk and hugged her tightly. "Thank you, Dusk! You're the best arch-nemesis ever!" she said, then ran off toward the department store.

"...I don't understand that girl anymore." Dusk mumbled, then grinned to herself. "Anyway, she might not realize it but she's playing straight into my hands!"

_I still have little faith that this plan of your's will work_, a voice said to her.

"But now, in a way, I have insurance that it will," Dusk said, smirking. "Afterall, the less money she has to start with, the more damage my next trap will cause!"

* * *

Dawn wasted no time in heading to the department store, even skipping the usual mandatory visit to the pokemon center. From there, it didn't take her long to locate a small video game outlet and she immediately started sorting through the available games.

"Wow! I can't believe the games they have here!" Spotting one game in particular that interested her, Dawn pulled it from the rack and looked over the case. "I was never able to find somewhere to order this before. Used copy, but as long as it works..."

Curious, Dawn took another look at the shelf to compare prices. Her jaw dropped when she saw the price. "Wh-what? When did new games get so expensive! They were never cheap to order but I always thought that was because I was paying extra for the delivery!"

"If you're getting them delivered by pokemon, there's very little extra charge," a boy said, having overheard her.

"So then...I really was paying that much just for the game..." Dawn frowned and looked at the game she held in her hand. "Maybe I should stick to buying used games..."

"You could also trade in some of your old games," the same boy suggested.

"Part with my old games! NEVER!" Dawn yelled, then turned her back to the boy. "Sell my games...the nerve of some people..."

Dawn moved along the length of the rack, looking over the used game section. After picking out a few, totalling the same price as she would have paid for one new game, she went straight to the register to pay for them. In addition to the games, she found herself walking away with a discount card that was shoved into her hands.

With her newly bought games in hand, Dawn departed from the outlet and was debating what she should do about Dusk now. On one hand, Dusk was probably waiting for her. But Dawn figured she might be able to escape if she took a different exit. While she was trying to figure this out, she walked past a clothing outlet and spotted something that interested her.

"Pants...I could probably use a pair of those..." Dawn mumbled to herself, recalling the incident with the mud on the way to Pastoria. A few mannequins stood in the store window she was looking in, most wearing jeans and showing off the latest styles. Dawn looked through the store window to try to get a look at the selection before going inside to take a closer look.

Upon walking into the store, Dawn immediately realized how out of place she was. The environment felt foreign to her. Shelves and racks were lined with brand names she didn't recognize in the least, and she didn't see anything remotely close to the outfit she was used to wearing. Dawn was so out of place in the clothing store that she nearly jumped when one of the store employees approached her.

"Is there anything I can help you with, miss?" a woman asked her. Dawn turned around with a start and remained silent while she tried to put her words together in her head.

"Umm... I'm kinda... you see recently..." While Dawn was trying to explain her situation to the woman, she was pointing down. From this, the store employee seemed to understand.

"Right this way, miss," she said, motioning for Dawn to follow her. Thinking the woman managed to understand her, Dawn followed her through the store. The display she lead Dawn to, however, wasn't quite what she expected.

"Umm...how should I put this? Even though I suppose I could use more of these, I was looking for something that... covered a bit more," she said to the store employee. The display the woman had lead her to was a rack lined only with panties.

"Oh, were you maybe looking for pants?" the woman asked. Dawn nodded to her. "My apologies! Right this way!" The woman hurriedly lead Dawn to another section of the store not far away, where a variety of pants were on display. "Here we are, miss! Is there anything specific that you're looking for?"

"Umm...not really, I think I can handle it myself from here," Dawn replied. The woman nodded and then wandered off to see if any other customers needed help.

_I'll only worry about getting one pair for now since I bought those games, just something to wear with this jacket incase I ever go swimming in mud again._ Dawn furrowed her eyebrows when she recalled the incident. A wild eevee had lead her into the mud, rather deep mud. It was a very uncomfortable experience for her.

Dawn looked around briefly and spotted a pair of pants that she liked, one of the brand name pants. She took the pants from the shelf they were lying on and looked them over, making sure they'd fit before checking the price. She immediately cringed when she saw how much they cost and put the pants back. _Paying that much for a pair of pants is ridiculous! There has to be something cheaper here!_

Dawn quickly looked over the other available garments, soon realizing that a brand name should be considered a warning label. Eventually, though, she found something she did like, and for a reasonable price. Nestled in one corner of a shelf on the wall, Dawn found a pair of bike shorts like the ones she remembered May wearing.

_These... I could just wear something like this with my jacket_, Dawn thought, holding up the shorts. She carefully tucked the shorts under her arm, then stopped by the panties display to grab a few before heading to the cashier. After paying for the items she headed for the department store exit, but stopped on the bottom level.

_Should I find somewhere to change now?_ Dawn wondered. _Moreover, what exit should I take? Can I go some way to potentially avoid another encounter with Dusk? She must be waiting outside by now... _After thinking it over for a moment, Dawn let out a sigh and walked outside, her bought items in plastic bags in one hand and her travel bag on the other side. Sure enough, Dusk was waiting just outside the department store.

"You surprise me, Dawn," Dusk said to her. "I thought for sure you would be gone hours, but not only are you already out, but you've bought something beside video games with your money..."

"Hey! I know enough to buy something when I need it!" Dawn shot back. "Anyway, I suppose now you're going to try to lead me into that trap of your's?"

"Something like that," Dusk replied. "But perhaps we could discuss this somewhere else like, say, the Veilstone Game Corner? That's a fairly neutral place to meet, don't you think?"

_That's definitely suspicious, but better to try to deal with this somewhere public_, Dawn thought, then nodded to Dusk. _I'll just have to figure out what she'd be planning before we get there, and then maybe defeating this trap of her's will knock her down a peg or two!_

Dawn followed Dusk across the city to the game corner. Dawn stopped outside to admire the colorful display on the building, though the lights didn't particularly stand out in the middle of the afternoon. After a moment, Dawn realized Dusk had went inside without her and quickly moved in as well.

"Here," Dusk said as soon as Dawn was in the game corner. She was holding out tube-like item to Dawn, which contained a handful of coins. "Why don't you take these and try out one of the slot machines? And if you run out of coins, you can always... buy more..."

"Umm... okay then... thanks?" Dawn gave Dusk a curious look as she took the coin case from her and kept an eye on her as she moved to an unoccupied slot machine. Dawn took a good look at the machine, making sure it wasn't trapped in some way, then sat down in front of it.

_Okay, now I'm confused, just what is Dusk planning by giving me coins for the slot machine?_ Dawn wondered. She looked back toward where Dusk had been, but the mysterious ghost girl was already gone. _Suspicious. It's almost as if this actually WAS her plan, but I wonder how this was supposed to work? _

Shrugging it off, Dawn turned and inserted her first coin into the slot machine. The reels spun and Dawn watched them closely, pressing a button under each reel to stop them. When all three reels were stopped, she had three moonstones lined up and won 15 coins. "Hey! This is pretty easy!" she said with a grin, then pulled the reel again.

* * *

Pull after pull, Dawn was winning big, usually managing to at least line up three pokeballs during a particularly bad pull but more frequently getting pikachus and moonstones. She managed to keep her streak going, earning a clefairy bonus round in the process to win even more coins. From her hideaway, Dusk watched the events unfolding with a look of utter shock.

"But... but she's supposed to be wasting money on this until she's dirt poor!" Dusk protested.

_Dusk, I believe you may have confused the game corner for a casino_, a voice said to her. _On top of that, Dawn herself is a gamer, as you are no doubt aware. Stopping the reels at the correct time is nothing for her._

"Even so, I won't let this end for her so easily!" Dusk growled, clenching her fists. "Enjoy the slots while you can, Dawn, because I'm not finished with you yet!"

* * *

"I don't know what she was planning, but this doesn't seem like much of a trap," Dawn said to herself while coins were spilling out into her slot machine's tray. "I keep winning coins, and I can trade them in for TM's which will just make my pokemon stronger..."

"Hey, hey! You seem to be on quite the streak there, young lady!" a gambler looking over her shoulder said, grinning. "Maybe you could show me a trick or two?"

"Umm... maybe?" Dawn said. She glanced back curiously to see who was talking to her and saw an older, balding man wearing a white t-shirt with the sleeves cut off and a focus band tied around his head. "It's not really that hard hard, what do you need to know?"

The man laughed. "Well I need to know how to win, of course!" he replied. "I'm not even coming close to getting any coins! And I really want some of those TM's!"

_Everyone does_, Dawn thought, rolling her eyes. "Well, why don't you try using the machine next to me first?" The man looked at the machine, then grinned and nodded.

"Alright! Just watch me!" The man quickly sat down at the machine next to Dawn and put a coin in the machine, then pulled the lever. He then watched the reels closely for a moment before suddenly raising his hand into the air. "Ok! I've got them now!" he yelled, then pushed the three buttons to stop the reels in succession. The reels stopped on a pikachu, a Team Galactic symbol, and a pokeball, leaving the man disheatened.

_Even I can easily tell what's wrong with that!_ Dawn thought, glaring. Instead of helping, though, Dawn decided to humor him instead. "Gee, I don't know how you're not winning anything! That technique is perfect!" she said sarcastically.

"Isn't it!" the gambler replied. "My luck must just be terrible then, but it'll have to change eventually!"

_Yeah, you'll have to get really lucky to get anywhere with that!_ Dawn thought to herself.

"I have to thank you somehow for helping me get my confidence back." The man thought for a moment and then grinned. "I know! I'll introduce you to my daughter!"

"Wh-what!" Dawn said in disbelief. She wasn't sure if she was more surprised by the suggestion, or that he actually had a daughter. "How is that supposed to be thanking me anyway!"

"You'll see!" the man replied, then grabbed Dawn by the arm and dragged her toward the exit.

_This is like Barry all over again!_ Dawn thought, grimacing. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't pull her hand free of the man's grip. And no one else in the game corner was trying to stop him either. _ Come on! I was on a roll! One more bonus round and I would have gotten the special prize!_

* * *

By the time Dawn was taken outside, she stopped struggling. It didn't seem like it was doing her much good, afterall. With one hand free, she was tempted to just have Bowser sort things out for her, but decided having one of her pokemon attack someone would look bad if she wasn't in danger. So far as she could tell, she wasn't in any danger.

She was more than a little surprised when the man lead her to the Veilstone gym. She thought it must be some kind of joke at first, he hardly seemed like a gym leader afterall. By then it was dark out as well, and long past the gym's closing time. When they reached the door, though, Dawn saw him taking out a key.

_This guy couldn't possibly be the father of this city's gym leader, could he?_ Dawn thought, then frowned. _Did he get some idea in his head that I'd want to challenge her or something? _As she watched him, the man unlocked the gym's door and then stepped inside.

"Maylene! I'm ho-"

"DEADBEAT FATHER KICK!" The man was suddenly forcefully thrown out of the gym by a strong kick. He landed on his back several feet behind Dawn and remained almost completely still after he had landed, having had the wind knocked out of him.

_Whoa! His daughter must be really strong!_ Dawn thought. A pink-haired girl that didn't seem any older than Dawn herself then walked out of the gym. _That's... that's her!_

"Father, your gambling habits are bad enough," Maylene said to her father, then pointed at Dawn. "But taking a young girl home with you absolutely will not be tolerated!"

"B-but you don't understand!" Maylene's father pleaded, suddenly regaining his strength and sitting up. "The reason I took her here is because..."

"ENOUGH! I will not hear anymore of your excuses!" Maylene yelled at him. "If you don't find a job by tomorrow, then you're going to be Lucario's new sparring partner!" Maylene then turned to Dawn, placed her hands together, and bowed. "I apologize for any trouble my irresponsible father may have caused you."

"Wait, so, you're really the gym leader here?" Dawn asked, blinking in disbelief.

"That is correct," Maylene replied, nodding. "Though I have no idea what it means to be strong, or even how I've come to be a gym leader, but I will give it my best regardless."

_I don't get this one at all!_ Dawn thought. _She doesn't look any older than me but she's already a gym leader and strong enough to kick her Dad around..._

"Would you like to come inside for now? I was just in the middle of training with two of my pokemon."

"Well, sure, since I'm here anyway," Dawn replied, then followed behind Maylene as she went inside. _I'll have to cash in my winnings tomorrow I guess. I wonder what TM's I should get? Or maybe one of those other items?_

"H-hey! What about me!"

Maylene stopped in the door, turning to glare at her father. "Isn't there something you're supposed to be doing now?" she said, then shut the door in his face.

Inside the gym, Dawn was faced with another surprise. It wasn't Maylene's pokemon, two humanoid fighting-types. One a gray-skinned machoke, the evolved form of machop, and the other a more canine-looking pokemon that Dawn recognized as a lucario. At this point, she had fully expected Maylene to be a fighting-type gym leader anyway. No, what had caught Dawn by surprise, and Maylene herself didn't see until she finally turned around, was the girl on the other side of the gym that the two pokemon were staring at.

"Everything has proceded exactly as planned," Dusk said with a smirk. "Now, only in the final stages of that plan, will you come to appreciate my full genius, Dawn!"

"Wait... what? You planned for this to happen?" Dawn said in disbelief.

"I'm confused, who are you exactly and how did you get into my gym?" Maylene asked.

"I'm known simply as Dusk, and I can go wherever I please," Dusk replied. "Now, witness the final phase of my plan!" Dusk then reached into her cloak and took out an amber-colored gem.

_She's planning to evolve one of Maylene's pokemon!_ Dawn realized. When a dark aura descended upon Maylene's Machoke, Maylene and Lucario took notice as well. Lucario immediately jumped away from Machoke and cupped its hands together at its side, forming a blue ball of energy between them.

"HEY! What are you doing to my Machoke!" Maylene yelled at Dusk, clenching her fists.

"It's quite simple, really," Dusk said, then held out the amber gem. "By using this, I can force a pokemon to evolve so long as it's not fully evolved already. However, this form of evolution is unnatural, and causes the pokemon to go on a rampage."

Machoke's form began to change at that point. The most noticeable change was the sudden growth of an additional pair of arms. Maylene gasped when she saw this, realizing what Dusk had said was true. Still holding the ball of energy, Lucario looked between Dusk and the newly evolved Machamp, debating where to throw it. He eventually decided to hurl the Aura Sphere at Machamp, but Machamp raised one of its four arms and blocked the attack with its hand, leaving barely a mark.

"Its a lot stronger now, but even so I can just..." Maylene reached for Machamp's pokeball, which had been clipped to her belt, but found nothing. Looking down in shock, she saw a banette disappearing into a vortex with it. "My pokeball!"

"I knew a gym leader wouldn't be as stupid as Dawn here, so I've already taken the liberty of making sure you couldn't recall it," Dusk said to her. "Now, why don't you two have fun with this one? Of course, I could easily keep a pokemon like this under control with my ghosts, if that same Dawn agrees to go home right now and stay there."

"Jax! I choose you!" Dawn called out, removing a pokeball from her belt and releasing Jax. "I'm not going to quietly back down after a comment like that! It's still just one pokemon! Even if I was alone, I could handle something like this!"

_Is she nuts! She's really going to send out a machop against a machamp!_ Maylene thought.

"Suit yourself then." Not wanting to stay around any longer, Dusk concentrated and opened a vortex below her. She disappeared into the vortex, closing it behind her and leaving Dawn and Maylene to deal with Machamp.

"Dawn is it? Once we deal with Machamp, I expect a full explanation!" Maylene said to her. "Lucario, try hitting with Aura Sphere again!"

"Fine by me!" Dawn said. "Jax, get in there and attack with Vital Throw!"

"-Even if you're evolved, there's no way you can beat me,-" Lucario said to Machamp as he began forming another Aura Sphere in his paws. Machamp turned and charged toward Lucario, but Lucario fired first. The Aura Sphere shot into Machamp's chest and he grunted when it hit, but it was only slowed momentarily.

Lucario barely had time to register the shock from Machamp shrugging off a second Aura Sphere before it was upon him. Machamp crossed its arms and then uncrossed them, making a chopping motion with each. Lucario hopped back out of the way of the first chop, but Machamp seemed to be ready for this as he attacked with his upper arms as well and managed to land a hard blow across Lucario's face and knocked him to the ground.

"-That's enough out of you!-" Jax yelled as he closed in from behind. He grabbed Machamp by one of his lower hands and then pivoted around to throw him back across the gym. Machamp hit the floor hard near the other side, but wasn't down for long before jumping back up on its feet and shooting a glare at Jax. Though a bit dazed by the blow, Lucario was soon back up as well.

"Two Aura Spheres and its not even slowed down... Just how much stronger did my pokemon get!" Maylene wondered aloud. She was about to get her answer as Machamp suddenly raised all four arms in the air and slammed the ground. A shockwave shot through the gym floor, causing it to shake violently and knock Jax and Lucario off their feet. Lucario, being a steel-type pokemon, was knocked out instantly but Jax was able to endure it and got back up as soon as the shaking ended.

"That... that was an Earthquake!" Dawn said in shock.

"We started working on that technique after the last challenger, but we didn't have time to perfect it yet..." Maylene said. "It must be able to use it now that its evolved, that makes it a difficult opponent."

"Even so, there's no way it can take much more!" Dawn said. "Jax, don't back down yet! Knock it down with Low Kick and then use Seismic Toss!"

"-Now THIS is a battle!-" Jax said as he charged toward Machamp. Machamp did likewise, crossing his arms for another Cross Chop attack. As he had with Lucario, Machamp opened his lower arms in a chopping motion, but Jax dropped down into a sliding kick to sweep the Machamp's legs out from under it. As Machamp went down, Jax rolled behind him and grabbed him by the feet.

"-It doesn't matter how many arms you have, you can't grab me from here!-" Jax said, then started to spin Machamp around him. After a few turns, Jax let go and flung Machamp into a nearby wall. Machamp hit it, crumpled to the floor, and remained motionless. A dark aura could then be seen flowing out of Machamp's body, but it did not revert to a machoke.

_This girl... she's not just some common trainer it seems,_ Maylene thought. _An Earthquake from a Machamp would have defeated most machops, but this one withstood it to deliver the finishing blow. A machop that strong must be close to evolving..._

Sure enough, with the berserk Machamp downed, Jax became surrounded in a white glow. His body quickly expanded, becoming much more muscular looking. He grew quite a bit taller as well, nearly doubling in height. Jax now had the same form as Maylene's pokemon had before Dusk forced it to evolve.

"-Nice. I feel a lot stronger now!-" Jax said with a grin, flexing his newly formed muscles.

"Way to go, Jax!" Dawn cheered, grinning to herself. _Now I only have on unevolved pokemon!_

"I don't think we're finished yet! Look!" Maylene called out, pointing toward Machamp. Her pokemon was getting back up again, rubbing his head, then turned and looked at the newly evolved Jax.

"-Hey, you, don't get cocky just because you beat me.-" Machamp growled at Jax. "-I just wasn't thinkin' right, ya got that?-"

"-Heh, whatever you say,-" Jax replied.

"It's alright, after you knock out a pokemon forced to evolve like that they come to their senses," Dawn explained to Maylene. "Normally they un-evolve too."

Maylene sighed and rubbed her head. "Ok, you definitely have to explain this to me," she said, then glanced over at Dawn. "Did you have any other plans tonight?"

"Well, no, I guess not," Dawn replied. _Have to hold off on cashing in my coins until tomorrow then..._

* * *

Meanwhile, elsewhere...

"Y-you mean you'll really give me a job!"

"Of course," a man with blue, crescent-shaped hair said to Maylene's father. "We're ALWAYS hiring."

* * *

Author's Notes: People often seem to think of the Game Corner as a casino for some reason. It's not. In function, it's actually closer to a pachinko parlour. Granted, we don't have pachinko parlours in North America, to my knowledge. Its a Japanese thing that's like a casino, but you win prizes instead of cash. Notably, Japan also has some pretty strict gambling laws, but pachinko gets by. Yeah, I got bored one day.

That part at the end was something I thought up just while writing today. Both characters are likely to get an appearance next chapter. Chapter 22 will be focusing on Team Galactic in general.


	22. Chapter 22: Team Galactic Strikes Back

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 22**

**Team Galactic Strikes Back**

Early morning, the day after Dawn's encounter with Maylene and her father, a man dressed like a luchadore approached the front door of Maylene's gym. While humming to himself, he took out a key and unlocked the door. Normally only Maylene or her relatives would be able to get into her gym, but this particular person was a special case.

HmHmHm! The ring is my roiling sea~ The towering waves shaped me~ Crash! Crash! Crasher Wake!" Wake hummed his theme tune as he opened the door and stepped inside. "Crash! Crash! Crash..." Wake stopped when looked around the gym and saw two young girls sleeping on cots in the middle of the gym. Seeing this, Wake grinned and crossed his arms.

"Well ain't that cute! She must have made friends with one of her challengers!" Wake said to himself. "Well, I hate to do this to her then, but its gotta be done!" Wake took a deep breath and then bellowed loudly. "FIRE!" The girls woke with a start and looked around in a panic, thinking there actually was a fire until they heard Wake laughing.

"Umm... who's the big guy?" Dawn asked Maylene.

Maylene blinked in disbelief. "You mean you don't know?" Dawn shook her head. "Dawn! That's Crasher Wake! THE Crasher Wake!"

"Wake? Hmm..." Dawn looked at him for a moment and then snapped her fingers. "Oh yeah! Pastoria's gym leader! A guy back in Pastoria said you were visiting Maylene, come to think of it..."

"And still here!" Wake replied, grinning. "Thought I'd check up one last time before I head back down to Pastoria. Wasn't expecting Maylene to have company, I was only gone overnight!"

"It's a long story," Maylene replied, letting out a sigh.

"Do I have to explain again?" Dawn asked. Maylene shot her a glare.

"Your explanations are hard to understand, I'll explain it," Maylene said to her. "If you want, you're free to go."

"Umm...right," Dawn rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry about taking so long last night." Dawn stood up from the cot, then bowed apologetically before leaving the gym and closing the door behind her. Wake watched, confused, as Dawn left suddenly and then turned to Maylene.

"Ok, want to explain what's going on here then?"

"Of course," Maylene replied as she stood up. "I think this is something the league should know about..."

* * *

"Well, at least she was nice enough to let me spend the night there," Dawn said to herself once she was outside. "I spent most of my money on games and clothes yesterday without even realizing it..." Looking around outside the gym, Dawn spotted a familiar face approaching the gym. It was Lucas, Professor Rowan's assistant.

"Dawn? What are you doing here so early?" Lucas asked her when he noticed Dawn standing near the gym door. "The gym won't be open for almost an hour yet."

"It's a long story..." Dawn replied, rubbing the back of her neck and grinning sheepishly. "Involved Dusk, kinda..."

"Right, still dealing with her then," Lucas said, nodding to her. "Well, I've got problems of my own. I dropped my pokedex and it was taken by a pair of Team Galactic grunts..."

Dawn blinked in disbelief. "Can't you just get it back on your own? I mean, the grunts are pushovers."

"I still haven't gotten my other pokemon for SOME reason and Pips hasn't been able to evolve either," Lucas said to her. "Even if they're just grunts, they'd cream me. I was going to ask the gym leader for help, but I suppose you'll do."

"Eh?" Dawn blinked and pointed at herself. "You mean you want..." she began to say, but Lucas suddenly grabbed her by the hand.

"Come on, I want to get this over with already," Lucas grumbled, dragging Dawn by the hand.

_What's with people and dragging me around!_ Dawn wondered, agitated. _I STILL haven't gotten to use my winnings from the game corner yet!_

* * *

Lucas did let go of Dawn's hand eventually, as it would have looked silly for him to drag her across the city like that. Near the northern end of Veilstone City was a large building which, in a way, resembled the Team Galactic Eterna Building. Specifically, as Dawn was quick to notice, there were spikes on the building. Lucas didn't lead her to the front of the building, however, but rather a small warehouse located at the eastern side of the building.

"Ok, there they are," Lucas said, pointing to the two grunts ahead of them, then looked back at Dawn. "Dawn, you better have gotten stronger, because I'm going to have to rely on you to do most of the work."

"They're grunts, I bet I could take these two on my own," Dawn replied, folding her arms.

"Is that so?" Lucas gave her a challenging look. "Alright then, have at it. But if I have to come in and clean up your mess, I get to take one pokemon of my choice from you."

Like that'll happen! Dawn thought with a smirk. "And what do I get if I'm able to get your pokedex back on my own?"

"I'll tell you something interesting about Dusk," Lucas replied.

_If he really knows something interesting about Dusk that I don't, then this would definitely be worth it!_ Dawn thought, then nodded to him. "Ok, deal! You just wait right here and I'll get your pokedex!" Dawn then ran off toward the two guards to retrieve Lucas's pokedex.

"Well, this should be interesting to watch," Lucas said to himself, folding his arms. After talking to the two for a few minutes, though, Dawn returned with Lucas's pokedex in hand. Lucas looked from Dawn to the pokedex, blinking in disbelief. "Ok, how did you do that?"

"Umm... turned out I knew one of them..." Dawn replied, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. She then held out the pokedex to Lucas, which he took from her.

"Well... I guess I'll count that, even if you didn't actually battle them," Lucas said. "Not like there's any reason not to tell you what I've found out, since it's you Dusk is interested in."

"Did you maybe find something interesting like us being reincarnations of legendary warriors and destined to be rivals for all eternity?" Dawn asked excitedly.

"...No, that'd be stupid," Lucas replied. "But first off... who would you even know in Team Galactic?"

"Umm..." Dawn looked back at the two Galactic Grunts for a moment. Even though Dawn knew one of them, they still looked completely indistinguishable. "The one on the right is Maylene's father, he was the one that dragged me to her gym last night. She told him to find a job and I guess this is it..."

_That idiot has no idea what he's getting himself into_, Lucas thought, narrowing his eyes at the grunt in question.

"Anyway, about Dusk?" Dawn said to Lucas with an anticipating expression.

Lucas let out a sigh and then nodded to her. "Right, about that... you remember when I asked you about that pokemon, Spiritomb?" Dawn thought for a moment, then nodded to him. "Well, the reason I asked, is because there's a sort of an... urban legend floating around Twinleaf it seems."

"An urban legend?" Dawn repeated, blinking. "I didn't hear anything about an urban legend in Twinleaf..."

Somehow that doesn't surprise me, Lucas thought, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, how it goes is that a young girl managed to find a spiritomb in a psyduck pond. Or rather, found the spiritomb's keystone."

"Keystone?" Dawn asked.

"Spiritomb is a pokemon made up of one hundred and eight cursed spirits, all inhabiting a rock called a keystone," Lucas explained. "The girl took this keystone home with her and went down to her basement with it. That was the last time she was seen alive. I'd tell you what they did find in the basement, but I doubt you'd have the stomach for it. But they were sure that girl had died and became part of that spiritomb."

"I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean... but are you trying to say you think Dusk is that girl?" Dawn asked, swallowing nervously.

"I don't really have anything concrete at this point, but it does seem like there could be a connection," Lucas explained. "What we know of Dusk so far is that she apparently knows you, and is a trainer of ghost pokemon. Assuming she isn't a ghost pokemon herself. I was hoping you might have heard something about that, though, seeing as how it happened in your home town, while you were living there."

Dawn blinked in disbelief. "It... did?"

"Yes. In fact, you would have been six at the time," Lucas said, then shrugged. "Well, whatever. If you don't know anything about it, then I guess it can't be helped. For now, I want to see this grunt you were talking about. The gym leader's father."

_Why does he want to do that?_ Dawn wondered, following Lucas as he approached the two grunts. The two glared as Lucas approached them, trying their best to look intimidating, but then the one on the right noticed Dawn approaching and grinned.

"Back again? Did your friend here lose something else?" he asked Dawn. Dawn opened her mouth to reply, but Lucas spoke first.

"Are you Maylene's father?" Lucas asked him. The grunt blinked and then nodded to him.

"That's right... why?"

"Let me put this bluntly, do you have any idea what kind of organization you're getting yourself involved in?" Lucas asked, folding his arms. "Even if Team Galactic's goals are as noble as they say, which I doubt, you're getting caught up with an organization that actually seems to think they can make a new world. That's crazy no matter what way you look at it."

"Watch your mouth, kid!" the other grunt growled, clenching his fists.

"I never thought of any of that," Maylenes father said, putting his finger to his mouth. "I was just desparate for a job because if I didn't get one..." He shuddered at the thought of what would have happened.

"Is it really that bad that you'd join an organization like this without really knowing anything about them?" Lucas asked him.

"Just what are you trying to imply, kid!" the other grunt demanded, shaking a fist at him. "One more word out of you and you're mine!"

_Lucas... just what are you trying to do here? Start a fight?_ Dawn wondered, hand slowly inching toward the pokeballs on her belt. If a fight was about to break out, she wanted to be ready.

Meanwhile, the door to the warehouse opened and a young man with crescent-shaped blue hair and wearing a Team Galactic outfit stepped out. Spotting the group gathered nearby, he raised an eyebrow. "And just what's going on out here?" he asked, approaching the group. The two grunts suddenly turned and stood stiff, saluting the blue-haired Galactic.

"Saturn, sir! These trainers are causing trouble!" one of the grunts said. The other grunt, Maylene's father, remained quiet but was sweating bullets.

"These two?" Saturn asked. He looked first at Lucas, then at Dawn and focused his gaze intently on her. _That girl... dark blue hair, long red jacket but no pants, pink boots... seems to match the description of the girl Mars and Jupiter said beat them. Is she here to cause trouble at our HQ, now?_

"And just who are you supposed to be?" Lucas asked Saturn.

"Lieutenant Commander Saturn of Team Galactic," Saturn replied, gaze still fixated on Dawn. "You there, what do you have against Team Galactic?"

Dawn blinked. "Huh? Me?" she asked, pointing to herself. Saturn nodded. "Well, umm, nothing I guess... but you've really done a lot of suspicious things so far."

"Is that so?" Saturn smirked and folded his arms. "But it seems that you've managed to beat two of our commanders so far... perhaps you intend to target me next?" At that, everyone else was looking at Dawn with shocked expressions.

"Dawn? Is that true? Did you really manage to beat Team Galactic commanders?" Lucas asked her in disbelief.

"But Jupiter was part of a splinter group, wasn't she?" Dawn asked Saturn. Though she ignored his question, Lucas phad his answer either way.

I see, so she doesn't know? Saturn wondered, narrowing his eyes at her. But even if she has no idea who we are or our true goals, she's a potential threat. This would be a good opportunity for me the gauge how much of one.

"That's of no concern," Saturn eventually said to her. "Regardless, I wish to battle you. You may use as many pokemon as you like, but I will only use three." Saturn smirked. "I'm curious to see what kind of capability someone who has beaten Mars and Jupiter may have."

_So she really did beat them?_ Lucas thought, looking between the two._ I can't believe Dawn would be capable of something like that, but maybe she's better than I give her credit for?_ The grunt and Maylene's father quickly moved aside to clear a path between Dawn and Saturn, and Lucas soon followed. Dawn and Saturn were left facing each other, space cleared for a battle.

"Guess I don't have much of a choice..." Dawn muttered while reaching for a pokeball. "I'll use a pokemon that recently evolved, then! Jax, I choose you!" Dawn grabbed the pokeball and held it out, releasing a machoke from the pokeball. Jax grinned and flexed his muscles.

"-Great! My first battle in my new form!-"

_When did Dawn get a pokemon like that?_ Lucas wondered. _Come to think of it, why does it seem she can get her pokemon to evolve so easily and yet a more experienced trainer like me is still stuck with a piplup?_

"A machoke, is it? Interesting," Saturn said, then took a pokeball from his belt and released it. "Then I will start with this one, Golbat," he said as an incredibly large, bat-like pokemon appeared.

"We can take something like a golbat easily!" Dawn said with a smirk. "Jax, use Rock Slide!"

"Confuse Ray, Golbat," Saturn commanded. Before Jax attacked, Golbat fired a ball of light from its mouth. Jax found his attention strangely drawn to the light as it flew about and was left confused after it circled around him. Trying to shake it off, Jax punched the ground as if to use Rock Slide but only managed to send shards of concrete flying into his face.

_Ah, with how easily I've been dealing with them, I've forgotten how annoying zubat and their kind can actually be_, Dawn thought, frowning. _I'd probably be better off using Conker..._

"Now that it's confused, let's hit it with Air Cutter," Saturn said. Golbat then brought his wings together, forcing air between them and firing it out in a v-shaped blade when it pulled its wings apart. The blade shot out toward Jax and sliced across his side. Jax grunted and clutched his side in pain and then dropped to the ground.

"It seems I got a lucky shot," Saturn said with a smirk. His golbat gave a toothy grin as well.

_I guess he wouldn't be lieutenant commander if he wasn't going to be a tough opponent!_ Dawn thought, grimacing. _This guy might be a bit tougher than me. At least I still have the numbers advantage... _Dawn recalled Jax and then took another pokeball in her hand.

"Ok, Conker, you can take this one out then! Go!" she called out, releasing Conker from his pokeball. Conker immediately recognized what he was up against and grinned.

"-So this one is evolved, huh? Maybe it'll actually put up a fight!-"

"Conker, let's try that special technique of your's! Thunder Hammer!" Dawn called out. Conker nodded and charged electricity around his body, then ran toward Golbat.

_Lucas slapped his hand against his forehead._ Geez! Anyone can see that her 'Thunder Hammer' is really just a Spark attack!

"A true Galactic commander won't lose to cutesy pokemon like pachirisu. Golbat, use Confuse Ray again," Saturn said. His Golbat managed to fire another ball of light before Conker could reach it, briefly distracting him. The movements of the ball of light left Conker confused, but after it disappeared he was able to regain his focus and jumped into Golbat. Golbat shuddered when it felt the electricity, but the attack otherwise seemed to have little effect and just pushed him back slightly.

_Strange, wasn't that attack just now unusually weak?_ Saturn thought, narrowing his eyes. _Something's not right here..._

"Alright! Go Saturn!" the Team Galactic grunt cheered, then grinned at his partner, Maylene's father. "The commanders of Team Galactic are incredible trainers! They could hold their own even against a gym leader if they had to!"

"I don't know, my daughter can be pretty scary..." Maylene's father replied, shuddering.

"Golbat, attack with Poison Fang but don't let your guard down. They're up to something." Golbat flew in and bit down on Conker, his large mouth easily fitting over Conker's head to deliver a powerful bite. Conker yelped in pain and poison seeped into his body from the bite. Golbat then immediately let go to avoid any potential counter attack. Conker looked like he was about to, muscles coiled and ready to spring, but then he gave Dawn a confused expression like he suddenly forgot what came next.

_I guess it doesn't matter if confusion makes him miss out on faking an attack_, Dawn thought.

Meanwhile, though, Saturn was having different thoughts in light of the situation. _That pokemon was about to do something, but the confusion stopped it_, he thought. _Thunder Hammer must be some kind of code... I better watch this trainer, she's better than she looks._

"Golbat, keep it up. Another Poison Fang." Golbat hopped toward Conker and snapped his mouth shut, sinking his fangs into him. Conker growled this time, fur bristling as Golbat backed away. The confusion seemed to be wearing off, and Conker was ready to pounce.

"Golbat, be careful! It's about to attack!" Saturn said to his pokemon. Golbat started to fly away, but then Conker suddenly released a blast of energy from his body. A white beam engulfed Golbat completely and a high pitched shriek could be heard from the pokemon before it suddenly dropped to the ground, completely unconscious.

"-Got you...-" Conker muttered, then lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground.

That Poison Fang attack must have poisoned him, but he beat Golbat anyway, Dawn thought. She took out Conker's pokeball and recalled him.

"You managed to beat one of my pokemon afterall, seems you're not just a run of the mill trainer," Saturn said as he recalled his own pokemon. "Thunder Hammer... you made it look like you were using Spark, concealing your pokemon's Bide technique. But don't think I'd fall for that twice."

"Yeah, yeah, I've had that pointed out a lot," Dawn said dismissively.

_Dawn's changed a lot somehow, has she actually been taking Melany's advice to heart?_ Lucas wondered. _Well, not like I'd ever give Melany any credit for that. And she better not be slacking off right now either._

"Well let's see if you have any other tricks up your sleeve! Bronzor will be your next test, girl!" Saturn said, then took out a pokeball and released a blue, gear-like pokemon with a reflective body.

This one doesn't look like much, so maybe... Dawn took a pokeball from her belt. "Eggman, go! Give this your best shot!" she called out, releasing Eggman. Rather than looking for Dawn's DS like he usually did, Eggman appeared with a determined expression, seemingly realizing a battle was at hand.

"Tch. You've got to be kidding me," Saturn grumbled. "Bronzor, take it out. Confusion." Bronzor's eyes flashed and a psychic force struck Eggman, throwing him back. Eggman landed at Dawn's feet, a dazed expression on his face. One attack and he was already down.

"...We need to work on that," Dawn said, then recalled Eggman and took another pokeball from her belt. "Ok, this time we're serious! Bahamut, I choose you!" Dawn called out, this time releasing Bahamut from his pokeball.

"-Ok you... metal disc thing... prepare to face the might of a gible!-" Bahamut said to the Bronzor. The floating disc said nothing.

"A gible, is it?" Saturn smirked. "Bronzor, let's show them something interesting. Gyro Ball!"

"Bahamut, use Dragon Rage!" Dawn called out.

"-This technique never gets old! Feel the wrath of my burning spirit!-" Bahamut opened his mouth and fired a blast of blue flames from it while yelling, "-**DRAGON RAGE!**-"

Saturn's Bronzor began to spin rapidly while the blue, flaming shockwave raced toward it. Bronzor then shot forward, blowing through the flames and dispersing them. It continued forward until it struck Bahamut in the chest, knocking him back and then Bronzor itself flew several feet back. Bahamut wasn't down for good, though, and started to get back on its feet while Bronzor was floating away.

"Gyro Ball is a spinning tackle that matches speeds with the opponent," Saturn explained with a smirk. "Thus the greater the difference in speed, the more powerful the attack. Now, Bronzor, finish this with Shadow Ball!" Bronzor began to spin again, but this time a shadowy substance formed around it. Eventually it formed into a ball and shot out, striking Bahamut and knocking him to the ground again. This time, Bahamut didn't get up.

That's another one down! I need to be more careful! Dawn thought, recalling Bahamut and quickly taking another pokeball in her hand. "Assassin, go!" she called out, releasing the bug pokemon and quickly calling out a command. "Assassin, use Night Slash!"

"-Ok! You don't have to yell!-" Assassin replied as she moved to attack. Though Bronzor was floating fairly low to the ground when she reached him, she still had to put all her strength into a jump to strike. When she did, a purple glow formed around her right claw which then pierced into the center of Bronzor's body in one lightning quick movement. Bronzor staggered back and Assassin dropped back to the ground.

"Assassin? Interesting name, shame it ends here," Saturn said. "Bronzor, Extrasensory." Bronzor's body flashed repeatedly, each time striking Assassin with a psychic force and throwing her back. Assassin didn't seem to understand what was happening to her, but was unconscious by the time she came to a stop at Dawn's feet. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Dawn recalled her pokemon.

_Dawn seems to be losing the advantage quickly, can she regain it?_ Lucas wondered.

"You go, sir! You have her cornered now!" the Galactic grunt cheered.

"Ok then, it's all up to you now," Dawn said as she held out a pokeball. "Bowser, go!" The pokeball in her hand opened and released her final pokemon. Bowser looked around the area, taking in his surroundings, and then gave Bronzor a curious glance.

_Shell and Seed probably won't work on this one, and it seems pretty resilient_, Dawn thought. _Ok, so let's try Leech Seed!_

_That pokemon would still be faster than Bronzor_, Saturn thought. _I don't think the difference is great enough for a strong Gyro Ball. Best stick with Extrasensory._

"Bowser, Leech Seed!"

"Bronzor, Extrasensory!"

Bowser shook his body and fired a seed from the bushes on his back. The seed landed on Bronzor's face, then sprouted vines that wrapped around its entire body. It didn't seem to have any immediate effect, though, as it still managed to use Extrasensory. Bronzor's body flashed repeatedly and Bowser reeled back each time as he was hit by a psychic force. Once its attack was finished, Bronzor suddenly collapsed.

_Hmm. That skorupi must have done more damage than I thought_. Saturn recalled Bronzor, then smirked. "You've done well, but it ends here. This last pokemon is my strongest," Saturn said, then took the pokeball in his hand. "Toxicroak!" The pokeball opened, and from it emerged a purple frog pokemon that was only slightly shorter than Dawn herself was. The pokemon had a wicked grin and mean-looking claws on its hands.

_Ok, this one? This one we can use that technique on!_ Dawn thought. "Bowser, Shell and Seed!"

"Not so fast! Toxicroak, Poison Jab!" Bowser began to withdraw into his shell, but Toxicroak was too quick for him. He shot toward Bowser and jabbed him forcefully in the head with one of the poisonous barbs on his hands. Bowser grunted and staggered back, then collapsed. Dawn gasped in shock.

"That... that was my last pokemon..." Dawn whimpered. It was the first time her entire team had been wiped out. Casting her gaze toward the ground, Dawn remorsefully recalled Bowser.

"Seems I win. Don't forget this defeat, now," Saturn said with a smirk as he recalled Toxicroak. This girl isn't a threat, strong as she is. Just another self-righteous trainer. Even if she gets in our way again, I'll be ready for her. Saturn then looked toward the two grunts and said, "You two, you're relieved of your duty for now. We need an extra set of hands inside, and you're it."

"Yes sir!" both the grunt and Maylene's father replied, then followed behind Saturn as he went inside. Once they were gone, Lucas approached Dawn.

"You ok?" he asked her. Dawn nodded.

"I'm fine," she mumbled, then turned and started to walk away. "There's something I have to do though..."

_Something she has to do?_ Lucas wondered, raising an eyebrow. _Does this have to do with her losing that battle just now?_

* * *

"You seem to have a lot of coins there! Was there a specific TM you were looking for?" a lady asked Dawn, showing off a display of TM discs.

_Finally! I thought I'd never get to spend my coins!_ Dawn thought, beaming at the display. _Next time, with these new techniques, I'll definitely beat that guy! _She then started taking discs from the display, picking out the ones she thought best suited her pokemon. With the coins she had managed to win, Dawn would definitely make sure her pokemon had strong attacks.

* * *

Author's Notes: A bit late with this one, I kept getting sidetracked today because of something else I had to work on. Thankfully, holiday tomorrow. So I don't require sleep this week...

I wanted to get in an early fight against Saturn while Dawn was in Veilstone, which was pretty much the point of this chapter. But also met up with Lucas, who seems to have done some sleuthing to figure out who Dusk is. Is he right, though? Is Dusk really a ghost pokemon? Or is there more to it than that?


	23. Chapter 23: An Unown Assailant

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 23**

**An Unown Assailant**

"This is the shortcut to Solaceon!" Dawn asked incredulously.

"That's right! It'll go right through to the Solaceon Ruins!" a guy dressed in khakis, like a stereotypical ruin explorer, said to Dawn. He was a bit shorter than her, despite being an adult, and was digging away at the wall of the cave Dawn now stood in.

"How... how can it be a shortcut if YOU'RE STILL DIGGING IT!" Dawn yelled, then let out an exasperated sigh. "I heard there was a shortcut and thought I could avoid the icky weather, but this isn't any good to me..."

"Just be patient, I'll be through this last bit in no time!" he said to her. "You just go explore the cave or something! There's plenty of geodude around!"

_Joy. A freshly dug cave, and already there are geodude_, Dawn rolled her eyes. _At least there doesn't seem to be any zubats. Yet..._

Dawn looked around the cave and considered her next move. The ruin maniac, as she chose to refer to him as, had already dug a very deep, long cavern. It seemed like she couldn't be far from Solaceon, and it definitely wouldn't have been worth her time to go all the way back to Veilstone and take the long way.

_Guess I'll find something to do in the cave then_, Dawn thought. She then set off to wander back through the cave again, not straying too far from the ruin maniac incase he finally broke through to Solaceon. Before she got very far, however, a strange pokemon looking like an "A" with an eyeball appeared before her.

"Eh...?" Dawn blinked, not sure just what kind of pokemon it was. She looked back at the ruin maniac and said, "Excuse me but, umm, what kind of pokemon is this?"

"What pokemon is what?" he asked as he looked back. He looked toward where Dawn was pointing and raised an eyebrow at her. "There's nothing there. It was probably just a geodude anyway..." The ruin maniac then went back to digging.

"There isn't?" Dawn looked back to where she saw the pokemon, but there was no sign of it anywhere. Realizing what was going on, Dawn growled and clenched her hand into a fist. "Oh, I get it! This is one of those scenes where I keep thinking I'm seeing something, but no one else believes me until it's too late! Not! A! Chance!"

One by one, Dawn unclipped each pokeball from her belt until all of her pokemon had been released. Bowser, Eggman, Jax, Assassin, Captain Falcon, and Bahamut stood in a circle around her. Eggman immediately turned to her, looking for Dawn's DS, but Dawn quickly shook her head. "No, this is serious! Everyone, be alert! There's something here, I'm sure of it! So keep watch for something weird!"

Meanwhile, the ruin maniac stopped his digging for a moment to look back at her with a raised eyebrow.

"The only weird thing here, kid, is you..."

* * *

Meanwhile, outside the Solaceon Ruins...

"Hmph. I should have checked out a place like this from the start," Dusk said to herself. Under her hood she wore a smirk on her face, staring off into the ruin entrance. "I can feel it! Today, something will definitely happen! And when it does, I will be ready!"

_"Dusk, I've been monitoring the situation with Dawn,"_ a voice said to her. _"It seems she will be arriving in Solaceon from that very direction. If nothing else, she is undoubtedly going to encounter the unown within the ruins. They will undoubtedly recognize her and attempt to stop her, but I doubt the unown will have much success."_

"And if someone has taken the item we were looking for, then they would undoubtedly be looking for the stones that reside in these ruins. Even if they don't show up today, it's too big of a risk with Dawn herself passing through." Dusk then narrowed her eyes and glanced back over her shoulder. "I don't like eavesdroppers."

"Ohohohohoho! So you noticed my presence afterall?" a woman in a purple dress and hair done up in several large buns said to Dusk, a gloved hand covering her mouth as she laughed. "You are quite something, demoiselle! Perhaps you could explain to the league just how special you are, non?"

"I will have to say 'non' to that," Dusk replied, turning around to face the woman. "You must be Fantina. I expected the league would be taking an interest in me now, but I'm surprised to find a gym leader after me already. And in Solaceon, no less."

"But you see, I was on my way to Veilstone with my pokemon to see if I could not find your trail there, demoiselle," Fantina said, gesturing to a ghost pokemon floating behind her that looked like a hot air balloon. "But now that I am here, I am afraid I cannot allow you to do whatever it is you are planning, mon ami, unless you are willing to submit yourself to the pokemon league."

"My answer remains the same," Dusk replied, then held out her hand. A vortex opened in the air in front of her, and from it a dusknoir descended. "Even against a gym leader, I won't back down. Especially one with the same area of expertise as me."

"Then there is only one option for me, now." Fantina slowly extended her gloved hand toward Dusk and her pokemon. "Drifblim, commencer le duel!" Drifblim bowed its head and floated out in front of Fantina.

"Have it your way. Reaper, use Confuse Ray!" Dusk commanded. Reaper stretched out his hand toward Drifblim and released a ball of light. Drifblim found its eyes drawn to the ball as it moved around in quick, jerky movements. The ball of light then circled around Drifblim before disappearing, leaving Drifblim confused.

"My! How underhanded!" Fantina chided her. "Drifblim, Ominous Wind!" Drifblim nodded and began spinning around rapidly, much to Fantina's confusion. It eventually shot downward, smashing into the ground.

"And don't think we'll let you use that technique on us, either! Reaper, Disable!" Reaper's eye flashed and a yellow glow surrounded Drifblim as it floated back up from the ground. Drifblim shuddered and could feel part of its mind being temporarily locked away, the part that knew how to use Ominous Wind.

"Hmm, but that doesn't render my pokemon incapable of attack," Fantina said to Dusk. "Drifblim, le montrer! Your Shadow Ball!" Drifblim raised its string-like arms and formed a ball of shadow between its hands, then launched the ball at Reaper. Reaper held up his arms to try to defend himself and grunted when the Shadow Ball struck him.

"You don't quite seem to get it yet," Dusk said to her. "You may be an expert on ghost pokemon, but you have no connection with them at all! There's no bond there! But I, I've been obsessed with the occult since I was a child. The mysterious and frightening nature of ghost pokemon is what draws me toward them. It's that same mysterious and frightening nature that I use to render my opponents powerless! Reaper, Imprison!"

Reaper uncrossed his arms and focused on Fantina's Drifblim. A harsh red aura surrounded both of them, and Drifblim could feel more of its techniques being sealed away. Among the techniques it lost access to was Shadow Ball, greatly reducing Drifblim's ability to fight back against Reaper.

_Interesting! That speech just now, this girl is someone who cares deeply for pokemon!_ Fantina thought, smiling to herself. _But, demoiselle, that makes it only stranger that you would be the type to attack a gym leader. Perhaps you have your own reasons, but it matters not._ Fantina's smile changed to a smirk. _Now it is my turn to rely on underhanded tricks..._

"Drifblim, we cannot win like this! Retraite!" Fantina said to her pokemon. Drifblim nodded and floated back behind Fantina again, at which point the gym leader took another pokeball in her gloved hand. "Dusclops! Sortir!" she called out, releasing a one-eyed, mummy-like pokemon to battle.

_Why would she use THAT pokemon? She should realize Dusknoir will just imprison all of its attacks_, Dusk thought. _She must have something planned. Unfortunately for her, I have another trick up my sleeve._

"It seems you didn't hear enough about me to hold your own in a fight," Dusk said with a smirk. "If you did, you would know better than to use an unevolved pokemon against me!" Dusk stretched her hand out toward the dusclops, other hand clutching the gem hidden under her cloak. She focused on transferring energy from the orb to Dusclops.

_This must be the forced evolution technique_, Fantina thought. She quietly observed the scene before her. A dark aura surrounded Dusclops as the energy flowed into it. To Dusk's surprise, however, nothing seemed to be happening. In fact, Dusclops hardly noticed anything was going on.

Realizing her technique wasn't working, Dusk growled and lowered her hand to her side. "I don't get it... why isn't it working!" she said, frustrated, then noticed a string tied around Dusclops' neck with a blackened stone hanging from it. "An everstone? On a Dusclops?"

"Something wrong, demoiselle? Perhaps I am not as ill-prepared as you thought?" Fantina said to her. "As expected, the energy you attempted to force-feed my pokemon and trigger its evolution has been absorbed by the everstone." Fantina then recalled Dusclops and grabbed the strings hanging from Drifblim's body.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going!"

"As much as I would love to battle ghost against ghost, I have what I needed from this encounter. Therefore, I must now bid you adieu." Drifblim then floated up into the air, carrying Fantina with it, and the two floated off in the direction of Veilstone.

"Well that was a nuisance. I wonder what she plans to use that everstone for?" Dusk wondered aloud, then shook her head and turned her attention back to the entrance to the ruins. "No matter. I need to keep watch here. I doubt she will figure out anything useful from that, anyway."

_"I agree,"_ a voice said to her. _"This alone will give them no edge in their fight against us, though I am curious to see what they will be able to learn from it..."_

"Can't say I really care," Dusk replied stiffly. "So how's Dawn doing?"

_ "Still hasn't gotten through, though that may change. She seems to be getting impatient..."_

* * *

A thought occurs to me. I'm sitting here, surrounded by six strong pokemon, at least one of which is a born digger, Dawn thought. Meanwhile, this old guy behind me is slowly digging through the wall with a shovel. What's wrong with this picture? Dawn slowly stood up and turned to face the ruin maniac.

"I'll tell you what's wrong, a shovel is no match for a pokemon!" Dawn said, clenching a fist.

"Huh?" The ruin maniac stopped digging and looked back at Dawn. "What are you saying now, young lady?"

"I'm saying this!" Dawn pointed her finger toward the wall. "Bahamut, go! Bust through that wall!"

"-**GOT IT! I WILL FINISH THIS IN ONE MOVE!**-" Bahamut yelled as he charged forward, racing toward the wall. The ruin maniac hastily dropped his shovel and moved out of the way. "-**DRACONIC! WALL! BREAK!**-" Bahamut smashed head first into the wall, burrowing into it. Moments later, the wall collapsed, and Bahamut emerged unscathed from the rubble.

"B-but I was almost finished!" the ruin maniac complained.

"If I waited for you, I'd be an adult by the time you were finished," Dawn shot back, then walked through the opening with the rest of her pokemon. The ruin maniac stayed behind, however, as he was still in shock over Dawn's actions.

"So... I guess we just go straight through, then?" Dawn said as she looked around. Dawn found herself in a large chamber with a flight of stairs leading up to the next level. Various symbols filled out the walls, taking shapes Dawn didn't recognzie. Though many of them very much had the appearance of the pokemon she had seen while in the cave. The chamber was lit by a few dim lights on the wall.

"Those symbols creep me out," Dawn said, then shrugged. "Well, in any case, let's keep going. But stay close!" Dawn's pokemon all nodded and followed closely behind her as she left the chamber. Shortly after, several of the symbols seemed to pull away from the wall and slowly floated off in the direction of Dawn's pokemon.

Feeling as though she were being watched, Dawn stopped on the stairs and looked back. She couldn't see anything behind her, though. _That was weird... I could have sworn something was following me._ Turning to continue up the stairs, Dawn shuddered. _This place is really starting to creep me out, and I just got here... It's almost like something could..._

Before Dawn could even finish that thought, she felt something poking her leg and panicked. She shrieked and stumbled back, nearly falling back down the stairs and would have if Jax had not been behind her to catch her. Letting out a sigh of relief, she looked down to see what touched her. It was Eggman, who was looking at her with a confused expression.

"E-eggman? What is it?" Dawn asked. Eggman reached up with his hands as if wanting her to give him something, causing Dawn to let out another sigh. "This is a bad time, Eggman, but that aside couldn't you have at least waited until we got to the top of the stairs!" Eggman frowned at her and then attempted to climb up the next stair, which proved to be a challenge due to his small size and lack of legs. After trying to jump up and failing, Bowser used his nose to boost him up.

"Oh, now I get it... you actually DO want to be carried for a change..." Dawn said, and Eggman nodded to her. Dawn then reached down to pick him up and carry him in her arms as she and her pokemon continued up the stairs.

_If it weren't for this strange location I could easily make my escape!_ Captain Falcon thought, frantically looking around. _Are we underground again? I bet we're underground again. I hate being underground. First chance I get I'll find my way out on my own._

Reaching the next chamber, Dawn found three more flights of stairs. Two on the left side of the room lead up, while the one directly in front of her went back down. There were more symbols on the wall as well, each looking like they had eyes. Dawn once again felt like she was being watched.

"More of those things," Dawn grumbled. "I'm willing to bet those things are all actually pokemon of some sort. In fact, come to think of it..." Holding Eggman against her in her left arm, Dawn took out her pokedex and scanned the walls. Sure enough, a pokemon called 'unown' registered in her pokedex.

"Hmm... says that they're nothing special when alone, but two or more and... an odd power..." Dawn suddenly fell silent and looked up from her pokedex screen. It was quite obvious to her now that there were far more than two unown. A border of unown went around the entire room and, realizing their cover had been blown, the pokemon started to peel away from the wall.

"Great... now we're going to have to fight these things..." Dawn grumbled, putting her pokedex away. Her pokemon all immediately moved out in front of her, save for Eggman and Captain Falcon, and moved into fighting stances. The various odd-shaped unown that had peeled off from the wall gathered in the air before them and began pulsating a purple glow.

_It'd really be nice if the pokedex told me just what that 'odd power' is_, Dawn thought. Then more unown started pouring into the room from the stairs, gathering and blocking her path. Unown even emerged from behind her, moving past to join with the rest. _Yeah, REALLY wouldn't mind knowing what these things can do right now!_

With all the unown now gathered, they started to glow eerily and Dawn was sure they were all glaring at her. The air between them began to distort, and the room darkened slightly. Several of the unown moved out in front of the group and rearranged themselves, thirteen in total. The distortion in the air then began to take shape, forming into a lizard-like creature that stood on two legs. At over twice as tall as her and almost forty feet long, the creature was larger than any pokemon Dawn had ever seen.

"Wh-what on Earth is that..." Dawn was cut off as the creature let out a thunderous roar, revealing its dagger-like teeth to the group gathered before it. Though Dawn's pokemon stood their ground, refusing to let the creature intimidate them, Dawn's knees were shaking.

"-Hey, anyone else think this doesn't seem like a pokemon somehow?-" Bowser asked, looking around at the other pokemon. Everyone nodded in agreement. The lizard-like creature was almost completely lacking in intelligence or ability to communicate.

The creature's lack of intelligence meant little, though, when it was under the control of the unown. The creature charged forward, moving straight toward Dawn. Its head nearly hit the chamber ceiling until it ducked down. The creature then opened its massive jaws and tried to reach over her pokemon to get to her, but Jax immediately put himself between her and it, grabbing its upper and lower jaws in his hands.

"-Not so fast, pal. You didn't really expect us to just sit here while you tried to eat our trainer, did you?-" Jax said to it. The creature growled and struggled violenty against the machoke's grip, but Jax was far stronger than it in spite of the size difference. The creature then suddenly roared and staggered back as Jax finally let go of its jaws.

"-Umm... I think I broke it...-" Assassin said timidly. While Jax was holding it off, Assassin jumped up while under the creature and stabbed her tail into its stomach. Unexpectedly, her tail pierced straight through it, and was now covered in a mix of blood and stomach acid. The creature seemed to be in a great deal of pain, likely due to the poison in her tail, and turned to flee. Then it suddenly disappeared as the unown broke formation, as did the blood on Assassin's tail.

"For something so big and intimidating, it was kinda... weak..." Dawn noted, feeling a little nauseous after what she had seen but trying to maintain her composure. "Now we just have to deal with those guys somehow..." Dawn looked toward the group of unown, which were still glaring at her but weren't doing anything yet. After the creature they created had been so easily defeated, they were carefully considering their next move.

"Okay, let's see how strong they are compared to that thing, then!" Dawn said. She lowered Eggman to the ground so he could join with the others, then pointed at the unown. "Everyone! Fire any ranged attacks you have at them!"

Bahamut, Bowser, Eggman, and Assassin all complied and launched their various attacks. Bahamut gave his usualy hot-blooded yell as he fired off a Dragon Rage attack, Bowser fired a Seed Bomb into the group of unown, Eggman fired an electric shockwave that spread out as it shot toward the unown, and Assassin fired a hail of needles at the group. After the attacks had hit, a fairly large group of unown dropped unconscious, but many more still remained and the aura around them turned red.

"Well, I think THAT managed to make them a bit angry," Dawn said, grinning sheepishly. When they moved into another formation, this one with seven unown, she found out just how angry they were. Another creature began to form, this one with a body that was red and silver, made entirely from metal and giving off an intense heat. It stood on four legs and had what looked like a stubby tail.

"Huh? Is that some kind of pokemon this time?" Dawn wondered. As if to answer, the new creature opened its mouth and fired a blast of intensely hot flames at her pokemon. Bahamut moved out in front to take the brunt of the attack, but even he had trouble resisting the intense heat of the flames. Eggman hid behind Bowser, who was behind Bahamut, and managed to endure the heat. Jax protected Dawn from being hurt by the attack at all with his own body. Assassin had the misfortune of being at the front of the group, though, and took a full hit. Being a bug-type pokemon, she immediately dropped.

"That was definitely a Flamethrower attack," Dawn noted. "So it's a fire-type pokemon, huh? Okay then, Bahamut, use Sand Tomb! Eggman, douse it with a Water Pulse!" Dawn called out, then took out Assassin's pokeball and recalled her so she wouldn't be attacked while fainted.

"-**SPINNNNNNNNN!**-" Bahamut yelled as he leapt into the air and spun around, creating a swirling torrent of sand around him. The sand then shot across the chamber to strike the fire pokemon, traping it within the vortex. The pokemon winced in pain as the sand buffeted its body.

Eggman was up next and remained completely silent as he fired off his attack. Holding his hands up, he fired several small, blue rings at the enemy pokemon. The rings themselves didn't reach the pokemon, though, and only splattered against its body as mud after passing through the Sand Tomb.

"I don't think our attacks did too much to it..." Dawn mumbled.

The pokemon attacked again after enduring the attacks, opening its metal jaw and firing a blast of flames at Dawn's pokemon. They assumed the same positions again, but after enduring the first blast this second attack proved to be too much. Eggman, who had little endurance already, dropped as the flames partially enveloped him, and Bowser being weak to fire dropped as well. Only Bahamut and Jax remained standing, as well as Captain Falcon still hiding behind Dawn. Bahamut didn't look like he could take much more, though, as he stood within the flames.

"-You're pretty tough... but even something like this... **WON'T STOP ME!**-" Bahamut yelled and flexed his arms just as the unknown pokemon stopped its attack. Bahamut then jumped up into the air, angling toward the other pokemon, but suddenly started to spin in mid-air.

"-Evo**LUUUUTION!**-" Bahamut yelled as a blast of sand swirled out from his body, concealing him as he began to evolve. His body grew almost two feet longer, his large jaw becoming a smaller head at the end of a slightly elongated neck. His tail grew longer, thicker, and his fins moved onto his back. As he dropped back to the ground, evolution complete, he let out another yell, "-Ga! **BIIIITE!**-"

"Bahamut evolved!" Dawn grinned. "We're not done yet, then! Bahamut, try attacking with..." Before Dawn could even finish, Bahamut was already on the move.

Bahamut moved toward the fire pokemon and jumped up, jumping on top of it without making any move to attack. "-Attacking you is pointless, you're not our enemy here!-" Bahamut said, standing on top of the intensely hot pokemon's body as if it were nothing. "-No, my real target is YOU!-" Bahamut then leapt from the fire pokemon's back, this time aiming for the unown.

"What? What's he doing!" Dawn wondered, confused. After a moment, though, it finally clicked. "Of course! The unown!"

"-These claws of mine glow with draconic might!-" Bahamut yelled as he soared toward the seven unown formation, an orange glow surrounding the claws on both hands. "-**TAKE THIS! DOUBLE! DRAGON! CLAW!**-" Bahamut then struck one unown with each claw, breaking the formation. Almost immediately, the fire pokemon vanished, as if it had never been there. The two unown he hit were knocked out, and the remaining five returned to the larger group.

"Captain Falcon, now's your chance!" Dawn said, looking back at the bird pokemon. "Get in there and attack with Quick Attack and Wing Attack! Use your speed to take them out!"

"-Guess I have no choice.-" Captain Falcon grumbled. With a flap of her wings, she took off and circled around Dawn, then sped toward the unown. The unown were again considering their next move, focusing their attention on Bahamut. With her speed, Captain Falcon was able to fly into the group, catching them off guard and plowing through the group. As she passed through, several unown fell to the ground, unconscious, and the group began to disperse.

"We've got these weird things against the ropes now," Dawn said, nodding. "Too bad we can't have you use Rock Slide, Jax, then you'd be able to hit them from here. But we're probably causing too much damage to the ruins as it is..."

"-That's fine, any come this way and I'll smash 'em!-" Jax said, slamming his fists together.

"-Then we'll take care of these ones ourselves!-" Bahamut said. Scanning the unown flying overhead, he noticed a group that seemed to be trying to form a word. "-Not a chance! **DRAGON CLAW!**-" Bahamut jumped toward the group and slashed two unown, dropping them to the ground and disrupting their formation. He then quickly turned and fired a blast of blue flames when he hit the ground, managing to strike another two unown.

Captain Falcon, meanwhile, seemed to be having it easy in the air. With only slight movements she was able to move into a group, strike one with a wing to knock it out, then move to another group. One by one, she was knocking out unown before they could make any effort to summon anymore creatures. "-These guys are pretty weak, no wonder they were creating things to attack us instead,-" Captain Falcon noted.

Captain Falcon and Bahamut continued their efforts, with Bahamut using Dragon Claw and attacking at any opportunity and Captain Falcon flying through the group and striking with her wings. The occassional unown flew toward Dawn and Jax and tried to attack with several balls of energy, but Jax was able to take the attack and knock out the attacking unown with his fists. Before long, the ground was littered with the unconscious forms of the unown.

"Guess that's the last of them," Dawn said, letting out a sigh. By that point, even Bahamut was exhausted from the effort and had resorted to attacking with an ordinary Slash attack instead of Dragon Claw. It was no less effective. "Everyone, good effort. Let's move out," Dawn said, then recalled Bahamut and Captain Falcon. "Jax, you're the only one with any energy left, so I'm counting on you if anymore unown show up."

"-Got it,-" Jax replied, nodding. The two began to move forward, being careful not to step on any unown, but stopped when they heard a voice yelling from behind them.

"WAIT!" the ruin maniac from before yelled as he ran up the stairs, stopping at the top to catch his breath.

"You? Where did you run off to?" Dawn asked him, slightly annoyed. Though she knew he wouldn't likely have been any help against the unown, it still bothered her that she ended up alone.

"I had to make sure my pokemon were rested up!" the ruin maniac replied, grinning as he held up a pokeball.

"...Right, well, you want to show me the way out of here now?" Dawn asked him.

"Of course! Just follow me!" he replied. As he stepped forward, though, he noticed an unown on the ground that he nearly stepped on. "Err... what hap..."

"Don't worry about it, just show me the way out already!" Dawn said. The ruin maniac nodded nervously and quickly moved forward, motioning for Dawn to follow him.

_Well now I can finally get to Solaceon_, Dawn thought as she followed behind the ruin maniac, with Jax following behind her. _Still, one thing bugs me..._ Dawn glanced back at the unconscious unown. _Why did all those unown suddenly attack me?_

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, I'm sure that chapter created quite a few questions in people's minds and finally moves the plot along a bit. Next chapter, naturally, will hopefully provide a few answers. Though not necessarily to the questions arising from this chapter. It'll be interesting to see if people can figure out what the unown summoned or, more curiously, why/how.

This chapter actually got a bit violent, incredibly brief though it may be. Or maybe violent isn't the right word here...


	24. Chapter 24: Day With Dusk

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 24**

**Day With Dusk**

"Your pokemon have been restored to full health," the pokecenter nurse said to Dawn as she handed her pokeballs back to her. She then bowed and said, "We hope to see you again!"

_I know she's just trying to be nice, but that seemed really morbid somehow_, Dawn thought. She quickly took her pokeballs and then turned to leave the pokemon center. When she got outside, another girl was waiting for her.

"And you're still waiting out here," Dawn said to her.

"Of course, I already told you I wasn't going anywhere," Dusk replied irritibly. "I already said I was going to follow you until you were out of Solaceon."

Dawn and Dusk had met just outside of the Solaceon Ruins, where Dusk had still been waiting after her encounter with Fantina. Dawn was still down to just three pokemon when she got out of the ruins but, fortunately for her, Dusk had no interest in battling her then. Rather, Dusk was now practically Dawn's bodyguard while she explored Solaceon.

"I could always hope. Something just feels really off about having you following me around, like just being near you casts a dark cloud over me..."

Right, and I just have the best of luck when I'm with you! Dusk thought, twitching slightly. "Look, I don't like this either, but I'm stuck with it for now. So where are you going next?"

Dawn folded her arms and considered her options. "Well, I need to buy a few things I forgot to get in Veilstone. Like, anything not video game or clothes related." Dawn grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah, I noticed you actually have something covering your panties so you're not flashing everyone now," Dusk said to her. Dawn's attire now included a pair of bike shorts, which only partially showed under her jacket.

"You didn't have to look," Dawn said to her, a comment Dusk remained strangely quiet on. "Anyway, I think I want to check out a nearby ranch, more than anything..."

"A ranch?" Dusk asked, raising an eyebrow. She didn't understand why Dawn would want to visit a ranch at first, but it didn't take her long to think of at least one reason. A reason she frowned at. "Dawn, just what kind of ideas are you getting in that head of your's?"

"Oh, definitely not thinking of freeing a ponyta from an evil ranch hand by jumping the fence with it!" Dawn replied with a huge grin on her face. Dusk looked less than impressed. "H-hey! I'm being serious for once, I'm definitely not doing that! I just want to look at the ponyta and rapidash and the baby pokemon!"

"If you say so," Dusk said, narrowing her eyes at the girl. "But if you say or do anything involving video games, I'm going to punch you."

* * *

Dawn left the vicinity of the pokecenter and headed toward the northern edge of town, where an old couple ran a ranch and breeding center with their family. Dusk followed her, of course, and the two stopped just outside the ranch. Rather than going in, Dawn decided to stop by the fence at the pokemon corral and watch the pokemon inside from there.

"Ahhh! Wow! Look at them all!" Dawn said in amazement. She climbed up onto the bottom strapping of the fence and leaned over for a closer look. "There's so many ponyta and rapidash here! And they all look so different! There's a silver rapidash over there, and look how dark the flames on that ponyta are!" Dawn said, and as she pointed out the differences between each ponyta, she pointed them out in the fenced in area.

"I had no idea you were so interested in ponyta," Dusk said dryly.

Dawn looked back at Dusk with a confused expression. "What do you mean? Isn't it every young girl's dream to own a ponyta?"

"When I was a young girl, I wanted a banette, because I heard they were possessed dolls who went after the children who had discarded them," Dusk replied. "I kept getting dolls just so I could throw them away, hoping it'd be true."

_What kind of childhood did this girl have! _Dawn wondered in shock, then remembered what Lucas had told her before. "Oh yeah! Dusk, are you a ghost?"

"Am I a..." Dusk groaned and slapped her hand against her forehead. "Dawn, could you come down from that fence, please?" Dawn blinked at her, but did as Dusk had asked and got down from the fence. She was rewarded with a punch to the gut, which knocked her into the fence and startled a nearby ponyta. "Did that feel like something a ghost could do!"

Dawn groaned in pain and clutched her stomach. "Couldn't you just say 'no'?" Dawn asked her.

"Wouldn't have been as fun," Dusk replied, a slight smirk showing under her hood.

_I guess that answers that_, Dawn thought, pushing off from the fence. "So what are you then?"

"Human, just like you," Dusk replied tersely. "What else would I be?"

"Umm... well..." Dawn considered telling Dusk about the urban legend Lucas had told her about. She shook her head, though, deciding against it in the end. "Nevermind..." After dropping the issue, Dawn turned around again to look at the ponyta and rapidash running around in the corral.

_Where has she been getting information like that, I wonder?_ Dusk thought, narrowing her eyes at the back of Dawn's head. _I bet it's that Lucas guy. He's been snooping around and trying to figure me out. Interesting, though, that he's managed to tie that event to me..._

"Wow! Look at that one!" Dawn pointed excitedly at a ponyta running fairly close to the fence. The color was fairly normal for a ponyta, but the flame it gave off almost seemed golden rather than the usual orange and red. The ponyta seemed to notice it had an audience and came over to see them. Dawn was staring at the pokemon with her mouth open, gawking at the golden flame along its back. She didn't notice the glare it was giving her.

"Dawn, I'd be careful if I were you..." Dusk tried to warn her.

"It's being so friendly, though! And look how pretty that flame is..." Dawn reached out, as if to touch the pokemon, but the ponyta really didn't seem to like this. It opened its mouth and fired a small ember attack at the girl, narrowly missing her as Dusk quickly pulled Dawn out of the way. The fireball hit the wooden fence instead, lightning it on fire. Dawn watched in shock as the fence she had been leaning against went up in flames, burning to ash before the flame had a chance to spread down the fence.

"I told you to be careful!" Dusk growled, gripping the girl's shoulder rather tightly. "You might have been impressed by that pokemon's flame, but I get the feeling that ponyta doesn't like people gawking at it."

"Well you'd be right there... little lady," a man said to them as he approached the fence. The ponyta snorted and took off as he approached. The man was dressed almost stereotypically like a cowboy from a western, wearing a black overcoat and a wide-brimmed hat. "It might look pretty to you, but that ponyta ain't none too impressed."

"Hey! If you're one of the ranch hands you should be keeping that thing under control!" Dusk growled.

"My apologies, but no harm was done, right?" The man replied, flashing the girls a grin. "The name's Richard, by the way. I'm in charge of designer breeding here at the ranch."

"Designer breeding?" Dawn asked, not understanding the term.

"That's right. We breed pokemon to meet the expectations of fussier clients here," Richard explained to them, leaning over the unburned part of the fence near them. "In particular, I breed pokemon that know certain attacks as soon as they're born."

"So that'd be something like how the togepi I hatched knew Water Pulse and Shockwave?" Dawn asked him.

"Don't know anything about your togepi, but that's the gist of it," Richard said to her. "Maybe you girls would like to take a look around instead of watching from the fence? You wouldn't be our first visitors today."

"O-okay!" Dawn said, nodding quickly. A breeding center meant baby pokemon, and Dawn was eager to see them.

"I don't know..." Dusk muttered. "I'm not really interested in..."

"Ya know, we've got a few baby ghost pokemon today," Richard said, grinning.

"...Is it really that obvious I'm into ghosts?" Dusk asked. Dawn and Richard both nodded to her, causing Dusk to sigh. "Fine, I'll go see the baby ghost pokemon..."

"Alright then, come with me," Richard said to them. Dawn and Dusk stepped through the hole left in the fence by the angered ponyta and followed Richard across the ranch. They passed by several more ponyta and rapidash before reaching a small ranch house, which separated the larger corral from a second, smaller one on the other side. It was in this second corral that Dawn and Dusk were introduced to the baby pokemon.

"Ok, I'll admit it, they're kinda cute," Dusk said as a small, curious baby duskull floated around her head.

"That fella there knows Pain Split and Destiny Bond," Richard said with a grin. Suddenly, Dusk grabbed the duskull as if she were pinching its cheeks.

"D'aww! Aren't you the cutest thing!" she said to the now confused-looking duskull. "I'd SO steal you if I didn't have a dusknoir already!"

"You even have rare pokemon like turtwig here," Dawn observed, kneeling down in front of one. The baby turtwig looked at her curiously for a moment before turning timid and running away.

"The 'mons here depend on the 'mons we're given, really," Richard said to them. "We can't breed a turtwig without one of the pokemon in its evolution family, though we do have a lot of pokemon for this. Two pokemon in particular that help us out a lot."

"What pokemon are they?" Dawn asked.

Richard took a pokeball in each hand and thrust them out as if holding a pistol in each hand, pressing the buttons like triggers. Out from the pokeballs emerged a humanoid/canine pokemon with a long, brush-like tail, and a pokemon that looked like a pink blob of goo with a face. "Meet smeargle and ditto. One can learn any move, the other can become any pokemon."

"Oh! Even I've heard of those two!" Dawn said, clapping her hands together. "If a smeargle sees an attack being used, it can copy it with sketch. And a ditto can use transform to become any pokemon its seen!"

"That's right. Both these pokemon have their own special techniques," Richard said. The two pokemon grinned at the acknowledgement. "They're both foreigners, too. Smeargle comes from a place in Hoenn called the Battle Frontier, and Ditto I found underground in the same region."

"Foreign pokemon?" Dawn thought for a moment, picturing herself with a team of exotic pokemon from other regions. Strange, shadowy creatures filled her head, hurling unheard of attacks and wieldind unique abilities. "I wouldn't mind a few foreign pokemon but..." Dawn looked back at the Ditto and Smeargle. "They don't look very foreign."

_You can find just about any pokemon in Sinnoh if you looked hard enough I bet_, Dusk thought, absentmindedly cuddling the baby duskull close to her. The duskull squirmed in her grasp, trying to escape.

"You may have caught those pokemon in another region, but they're not foreign to Sinnoh!" A male voice said, as if to confirm Dusk's own thoughts. Leaning against the short fence near the edge of the corral was Marcus, a wide grin plastered across his face.

_Ah, Markus, bottom of the list of people Dawn's encountered that I want to meet_, Dusk thought dryly. _Not that there's many I DO want to meet. Though Rina is at the top..._

"Well, I never said their species weren't native to Sinnoh, kid," Richard said with a smirk. "You seem pretty confident saying that, though. Got a smeargle of your own?"

"Sure do!" Marcus replied, taking a pokeball from his belt. From the pokeball, Marcus released his own smeargle, which appeared with a rather smug look on its face. "This guy knows a lot of attacks, particularly ones my other pokemon can't learn. Makes a great addition for a pokemon tutor like me!"

_It's hard to believe he really is a good pokemon tutor, but I guess he hasn't actually done anything to prove otherwise yet_, Dawn though to herself. Her presence there went practically unnoticed by Marcus.

"Hey! What's all the commotion out here about?" a girl older than Dawn or Dusk with blonde hair and wearing overalls said as she came out of the ranch house, accompanied by an older man and woman both dressed similarly. Before anyone could answer the girl, Marcus jumped the fence and ran over to her, putting an arm around her.

"My apologies, girlie, but it seems it was nothing less than fate that brought us together!" Marcus said to her. "In fact, why don't you and I go somewhere? You might find I have a few things in common with one of your ponyta..."

"Wh-wha?" the girl stuttered. Her father, the older man that came outside with her, answered with much less hesitation. Grabbing a rake leaning against the house, he whacked Marcus over the head with the blunt end.

"Think ya can just waltz on in here and flirt with my daughter? Dang city folk!"

"And this would be the rest of my family," Richard said, then gestured toward the man with the rake. "My Pa, Ma, and sister here mostly handle the ponyta and rapidash, though occassionally they help out with my breeding."

"Still don't know where them dang eggs come from, but we won't knock it!" the father said, grinning.

"Oh, hey, you're here, Dawn?" Marcus asked. He pulled a near-instant recovery from being clocked over the head and stood up in an instant. "I didn't even see you there!"

"I wonder why that was?" Dawn said, a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

Marcus grinned and folded his arms. "So! How's that technique I taught your turtwig been working out for ya?"

"Great! Actually..." Dawn took a pokeball from her belt and released Bowser. Bowser's appearance almost immediately had the attention of the young turtwig present. "He's evolved into a grotle now."

"Cool, cool. Want me to teach your pokemon anymore moves while I'm here?" he asked her. "As long as you've got the shards, I'll do it."

"HEY! No trying to conduct business on my property!" the male farmer growled, brandishing his rake.

"Easy, honey..." his wife said nervously.

"No, that's fine, really," Dawn replied, smiling. _Come to think of it, I've got the shards. And they're all deep underground right now._

"Hmph. So you girls came here to look at our baby pokemon, huh?" the father said gruffly. "Always do. Always interested in the cute ones..."

Bowser raised an eyebrow. "-Hey, what's wrong with liking cute pokemon?-"

"Actually, she came to look at the ponyta and rapidash before we were taken here," Dusk said, jerking her thumb back toward the larger corral.

"I like ponyta and rapidash actually," Dawn said, grinning. This didn't seem to help the rancher's mood any, though.

"Bah! And I bet you're only interested because they 'look pretty'! Not a serious trainer at all!" he growled, glaring at Dawn.

"What! I am too a serious trainer!" Dawn shot back.

"Oh yeah? Well prove it! Take there pokemon of your's into the corral and pit it against Goldie!" The rancher grinned and folded his arms. "Hell, if you manage to beat him, I'll even let you take him! Bad disposition anyway!"

"Fine!" Dawn replied, then started toward the ponyta and rapidash corral. "Bowser, come on! We've got a battle."

"-Another one?-" Bowser groaned. "-I was hoping for a break after dealing with the unown...-" Shaking his head, Bowser followed along behind Dawn. Dusk followed her as well, as did the farmer. Everyone else stayed back, deciding not to get involved in the scuffle. Everyone except the baby turtwig, which walked a distance behind them before stopping to look at Richard.

"Go ahead, youngin'. It'd be good experience for ya," Richard said, flashing a grin. The turtwig smiled and rushed out into the bigger corral.

"-So, what kind of techniques do you know?-" Richard's smeargle asked Marcus's once the girls were gone.

"-Not the ones I want,-" the smeargle grumbled. "-I desire to make known to all the existance of the Great Smeargle, the grand creator of all. To do so, it is my intention to learn the techniques used by the so-called legendary pokemon and by doing so prove the greatness of our species.-"

"-Umm...-" Richard's smeargle blinked several times. "-Oh... kay...-"

* * *

"HEY! GOLDIE! OVER HERE!" the rancher yelled once him, Dawn, and Dusk were out in the middle of the corral. Bowser was already in position for the battle and the baby turtwig slowly catching up to them. The gold-flamed ponyta soon joined them, looking pretty angry about being called over. Despite the attitude, it took its place in front of the rancher, ready for the fight.

_With a name like 'Goldie' no wonder that ponyta has a mean streak_, Dawn thought, frowning.

"Aight now, just to let you know, this ponyta prefers to do its own thing in a fight," the rancher said, grinning. "So I won't be telling it what to do. That fine with you?"

"Fine by me," Dawn replied, nodding. _I bet it just doesn't listen to him in a fight. I mean, seriously! Goldie! I swear I'm taking this pokemon, and then I'm giving him a better name!_

As soon as Dawn had replied to the farmer, Goldie attacked, charging toward Bowser. As he ran, Goldie spat out a few fireballs to attack with, bearing the same golden hue. "-A grass pokemon doesn't stand a chance against me! Prepare to burn!-" the ponyta hissed.

"Bowser! Shell and Seed, try to knock it off balance!" Dawn called out.

"-I might have the type disadvantage, but that hasn't stopped me before!-" Bowser said to the charging ponyta before drawing his legs up against his chest and pulling his head under his shell. The shell did little to protect against the fireballs that struck Bowser, but he felt surprisingly little effect from them too.

"-You're going to regret that move!-" Goldie said, stopping in front of Bowser. Rather than using a fire attack, Goldie raised up on his hind legs to stomp on top of Bowser. This was just the opportunity Bowser needed, and he took it, firing a blast of seeds into the ponyta's exposed underside, throwing it onto its back. From that position, it was a struggle for the fire pokemon to get back on its feet, buying Bowser some time.

_This battle is already looking pretty one-sided_, Dusk thought. Looking across the field, she could see a nervous look on the rancher's face and smirked to herself. _Well, at least she's wiping that smug look off his face in a hurry!_ Meanwhile, the baby turtwig standing behind her looked on in amazement. It knew it was a type weak against ponyta, so it thought seeing the infamous Goldie getting tossed back by Bowser was an incredible sight.

"Bowser, let's keep it down and weaken it at the same time! Tickle!" Dawn called out.

"-Of all the... oh forget it!-" Bowser growled, then got up and moved to the struggling ponyta's underside. As best he could with his large feet, he started to tickle the ponyta's underbelly, causing Goldie to laugh uncontrollably.

"S-stop that! That's not fighting fair, girl!" the rancher yelled indignantly.

"It's a perfectly valid tactic, and one that'll win this easily!" Dawn said, grinning. The baby turtwig watching them was becoming even more enamoured with Bowser, who was now seemingly humiliating Goldie.

While he continued tickling Goldier, Bowser looked toward Dawn, hoping for a new order so he could stop. Instead, he noticed the baby turtwig. At first he was worried with it seeing him using his tickle attack, but then realized that he seemed to impress the younger pokemon. For a moment, this confused Bowser, but he soon figured out why the turtwig was impressed.

_I'm practically humiliating a fire-type pokemon with this attack!_ Bowser thought, looking at the ponyta laughing and squirming under his feet. _I bet a pokemon with this guy's attitude caused quite a bit of trouble around here, and beating him like this..._

"And now to finish this! Bowser, Bite! Hit it where it hurts!" Dawn called out. Bowser nodded and quickly backed away from Goldie. Goldie frantically tried to get back up, but then Bowser lunged toward him, knocking him back down as his jaws snapped shut, grabbing the ponyta's tender underbelly. Goldie cried out in pain and then his head fell flat against the ground, unable to take the hit.

"NO! I refuse to admit this loss! You cheated! There's no way I'm letting a city-slicker like you take Goldie!" the rancher growled.

"She won fair and square, Pa," Richard said as he approached the group, hands in his pocket. "And weren't you the one who made her use a grass-type, thinkin' you could get an easy win? That was pretty underhanded yourself."

"Why you..."

"What are you gonna do with Goldie anyway? He don't listen to you," Richard said, then finally stopped next to Dawn and took out a pokeball. He recalled the unconscious ponyta, put the pokeball back in his pocket, and turned to Dawn. "Sorry about this. Pa hates losing, especially to young trainers and even more to city folk. Why don't you step inside and I can handle switching Goldie to your ownership?"

"Thanks, I just hope it won't be too mad over this loss," Dawn said to Richard, smiling sheepishly.

"Well, sadly, he just might. Goldie can hold a grudge," Richard said. "Anywho, let's get inside," he said. Richard then headed toward the house with Dawn following behind him. Bowser didn't go with Dawn, though, and instead approached the baby turtwig.

"-Liked that, kid?-" Bowser asked him. The baby turtwig nodded. "-Heh. So, feel like learning a trick or two before I go?-" To this, the turtwig gave a very enthusiastic nod. It then followed Bowser to another area of the corral to practice using Seed Bomb with him.

"Seems like Dawn's managed to make quite the impact here," Dusk said, turning her head to the sky above her. "Something like this... kinda reminds me of why I took up this task in the first place..." Smiling and shaking her head, Dusk turned and headed toward the ranch house. It didn't seem like she'd be there much longer now, and she wanted to see the baby duskull again.

* * *

After Dawn had won her battle and received Goldie from Richard, making note to rename the pokemon later, the two girls didn't spend much more time at the ranch. Dawn had gotten more than she had wanted out of it already, so after the visit to the ranch she was finally ready to leave. They made their way to the southern edge of town, at which point the two girls turned to face each other.

"Guess this is where we part ways, then," Dusk said to Dawn. "Or rather, the part where you continue on, and I hop into an alternate dimension to spy on you."

"There's nothing I can do to stop you from doing that, is there?" Dawn asked her. Dusk shook her head, and Dawn sighed. "Great... well, see you around then, I guess..."

"I'll be seeing you anyway!" Dusk replied with a grin. She then turned around, opening a vortex behind her and stepping into it. The vortex then began to close and the last thing Dawn saw was the back of Dusk's purple cloak.

"Whatever's going on needs to be over with, and now, so I can get my privacy back," Dawn mumbled to herself. "Still, for spending the day with Dusk, it was surprisingly uneventful. I should be thankful for that I guess." Shrugging, Dawn turned and started on her way toward Hearthome.

* * *

Back at the Solaceon Ruins, meanwhile, stood a blue haired figure clad in a brown trenchcoat.

_That ghost girl wastes her time, for though the other girl is necessary for our plan, there are other objects to be collected first_, the woman thought. _My pokemon now search the ruins for the plate I seek. I hear I get a prize for collecting all seventeen._

The woman smirked. _And thanks to you, little ghost girl, now I know just who that prize is. Hahaha! You should have continued guarding the ruins instead of guarding her!_

* * *

Author's Notes: Heck of a week. Worst part, I was a bit lacking in ideas for this chapter. Hope it turned out well.


	25. Chapter 25: The Masked CoOrdinator!

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 25**

**The Masked Co-Ordinator!**

"You know, this all looks awfully familiar," Dawn said as she looked out toward the city from just in front of the guardhouse. "Oh, right, that's because I've already been in Hearthome before." Dawn let out a sigh and looked up. The sky was already starting to turn dark as night approached.

"And I'll be spending a night here too. Guess I'll have to spend a night at a hotel, and I've almost run down my current allowance to boot. Maybe I should just go sleep out..." Dawn stopped, falling silent as she recalled who else was in Hearthome. "Or maybe... I should just go find Mom and Keira! I bet Mom would help me out since I'm here again!"

With renewed hope, Dawn ran off through the quiet streets of Hearthome to find her mother...

* * *

Dawn didn't give much thought to the whole 'find her mother' thing, a fact that soon became evident to her when she arrived at the contest hall and found it closing for the day. The next place to check from there was fairly obvious, of course. Fortunately for Dawn, it was also pretty close. However, she was in for another surprise upon arrival.

"Sorry Dawn, your mother already went back to Twinleaf," Keira, one of the contest judges and a friend of her mother's, said when she met Dawn at the door.

"Oh." Dawn frowned. Her luck went from bad to worse. Now it seemed like she really would have to sleep out on one of the routes. Naturally, being a trainer, she was ready for that. She just very much preferred not to.

"Since you're here, why don't you spend the night?" Keira asked, smiling at her. "That is, if you haven't made any other arrangements yet."

"W-well, if that's ok with you, then I wouldn't mind that at all!" Dawn replied, grinning sheepishly. She could only hope she didn't seem too excited by that.

"Great!" Keira smiled and clasped her hands together. "This will be the perfect opportunity for you to see Bridget again, too! Your mother actually left him here with me for a little while since she figured you might stop by Hearthome again."

_Bridget... I almost forgot about him_, Dawn thought. She recalled how Bridget used to hate her and shuddered.

"Oh, yes! Speaking of Bridget, let me show you something!" Keira motioned for Dawn to follow her and moved into the house, Dawn curiously following behind her. Eventually they stopped in the hallway leading into the kitchen were several plaques and ribbons were put up on the wall. Keira then motioned toward a trio of ribbons on the wall. "Here, look at these."

Dawn leaned closer to the ribbons to look at them. The ribbons were blue in color and Dawn could tell from the shape of the ribbons what they were for. "Normal, great, and ultra rank beauty contest ribbons?" Dawn said. It took her a moment to realize the significance of the ribbons and she looked at Keira in shock. "Wait, then these are..."

"That's right, Bridget's ribbons," Keira replied, nodding and smiling. "You helped Bridget win the normal rank ribbon, and Joanne won the great and ultra rank ribbons with him," Keira explained to her. "All that's left is the master rank ribbon."

"Well, I guess that's only to be expected since I left Bridget with Mom," Dawn said, nodding.

"She decided against taking Bridget to the master rank, however," Keira said. Dawn looked at her curiously. "Joanne said that since Bridget is your pokemon, YOU should be the one to enter Bridget in the final contest."

_Come to think of it, something like THIS is also to be expected of Mom! _Dawn frantically thought. "There's no way I could win a master rank contest out of the blue like that! Sure, I know how contests work, but I've only ever entered one contest and that was normal rank!"

"But Bridget is already trained and ready for the master rank, all you will actually have to worry about is mastering technique combinations and dressing your pokemon according to a theme." Keira grinned and placed her hands on her hips. "And lucky you! You have a contest judge to help you out with your training!"

_That might be against the rules, but then again a judge would know_, Dawn thought, considering the offer. She wasn't all that interested, but Bridget WAS her pokemon and he did only have the one ribbon left to obtain. _On the bright side, I probably won't have to do any grinding with this kind of training._

Dawn nodded to Keira. "Okay, I guess it couldn't hurt then since it's for one of my pokemon."

Keira clapped her hands together. "Good! We can start your training first thing in the morning!"

"Huh! Why so early!"

"So we can get you ready for the contest in the afternoon, of course!" Keira said, still wearing a grin on her face. "Oh! Guess I should go get your room ready so you can get in a good night's sleep!" Keira then walked off to prepare her guest room for Dawn.

_I just got here and I'm already getting dragged into something, something my Mom set up in advance._ Dawn looked down and sighed. _Typical... wonder what else Bridget's been up to? _Looking for Bridget, Dawn wandered into the kitchen, where the male buneary was waiting for her. Along with two others, gathered under a wooden table.

"-Oh, joy, thought I heard a familiar voice out there...-" Bridget muttered, rolling his eyes. A female buneary giggled at him and a third, noticeably smaller buneary looked at the two with a confused expression.

"-Who is she?-" the little one asked, pointing at Dawn.

_Three buneary... but does that mean... BRIDGET'S A FATHER?_ Dawn felt dizzy when she realized this and nearly fell over, but managed to catch herself. _Okay, now I definitely need to go lie down..._ Dawn quickly left the kitchen without taking even another look at the buneary and only hoping she'd be able to find her way to the bedroom.

"-...No one you need to worry about, kid,-" Bridget replied with a smirk, shaking his head. "-Just someone that's supposed to be my trainer, and not doing a very good job of it.-"

* * *

Dawn didn't realize just how serious Keira was about starting early. It was six in the morning when Keira's buneary jumped onto Dawn's bed in the guest room, waking her up and then running off when her task was complete. Still groggy, even though she had actually gone to bed early the night before, she set about getting ready for the day. She got dressed as quickly as she could in her groggy state, then had breakfast before meeting Keira and the three buneary outside.

"About time you got here! I thought I'd have to follow up with Bridget to get you out here!" Keira said to Dawn. For the contest training, Keira had dressed very different from her usual attire. The dress she wore while judging contests was replaced with a yellow jumpsuit. The jumpsuit only served to accentuate Keira's unusually fiery attitude.

_Somehow, she seems really worked up to work me over_, Dawn thought nervously before replying to Keira. "Sorry! I just wasn't expecting to have to get up THIS early!"

"We have to start this early to make sure you're going to be ready!" Keira said, folding her arms. "Now, no more wasting time! We're going to start off now with accessory drills!"

"Accessory drills?" Dawn repeated questioningly. Bridget then walked up to her, carrying a small pink case that Dawn immediately recognized as an accessory case, though not her mother's. Bridget set the case down in front of Dawn and then stood back with his arms folded, looking grumpy.

"I'll name off a theme, just as if you were actually in a contest, and you will have one minute to dress Bridget appropriately," Keira explained to her. "After that minute, I'll judge your effort, again just like if you were in a contest. And we'll keep this up as long as we have to so you'll be ready for this afternoon's contest!"

_Wouldn't sleep also be important to getting ready for the contest?_ Dawn thought, silently hoping she could go back to bed.

"First them! The intangible!" Keira called out, then blew a whistle.

At the blow of the whistle, Dawn quickly threw open the case and started to rummage through it. She hesitated for a moment, not sure of what might actually qualify as being intangible, then pulled out several feathers and a leaf. Feathers and leaves are small, and barely there, I bet those count as intangible, right? Dawn thought. She stuck the items around Bridget's head, forming a sort of crown of feathers.

"-Ah. It has been so long since taking the ultra rank that I'd almost forgotten how much the dress-up phase sucks,-" Bridget grumbled, feeling more than a little silly with his new 'crown'.

"Hmph. Somethiing like that might get you past the normal-rank at best, but those hardly qualify as intangible at all!" Keira said to Dawn. "Take those off and try again!"

Dawn sighed and proceeded to remove the items from Bridget's head. Guess it needs to be more intangible than a feather somehow, she thought. Dawn put the items back in the case and rummaged around a bit. Carefully thinking each piece over, she removed several accessories from the case and put them on Bridget. First was a silk veil, followed by a spotlight that Dawn would hold over Bridget. Those were the only accessories that seemed intangible to her.

"-Even with just this thing, I feel silly," Bridget said, referring to the veil. Both Keira's buneary and the baby were laughing at him now.

"Right idea, but you won't win with so few accessories," Keira said, giving Dawn a thumbs down. "One more time! We'll stick with this theme until you get it one hundred percent!"

And so, for the next few hours, Dawn would find herself repeatedly dressing and undressing Bridget with the various accessories she had at her disposal. Without any direct input from Keira, it was hard for her to figure out what accessories she and the other judges would consider intangible. Bridget was becoming increasingly annoyed with each failure until, finally, Dawn found a combination that worked.

The final combination of accessories Dawn dressed up with started with a carpet, which she rolled out for Bridget stand on. Next, Bridget was given a star-shaped balloon to hold, and a heroic-looking bandana was wrapped around his head. A headband was added that fanned out and had several lines pointing toward Bridget to give him a determined look. The accessory itself was called 'Determination', so Dawn thought it fit. To top it all off, Dawn held a spotlight over him again.

"-Really. Hate. This. Part. Of. The. Contest.-" Bridget said through gritted teeth. The only accessory he wasn't completely upset with was the bandana, which he kinda liked.

When Dawn was finished, Keira clapped her hands together. "Excellent work! Now THIS is the kind of accessorization expected of high level co-ordinators!"

_I don't get what ANY of these things have to do with 'intangible', but I'll go with it_, Dawn thought, letting out a sigh. She only found out the combination through trial and error._ If I was forced through something like this in a video game, then you could bet that would become intangible in a hurry!_

"Okay, we wasted enough time on that, so let's get straight to the appeal now," Keira said to Dawn. "Get those accessories off, check out Bridget's moves, and do the best appeal you can!"

_Come to think of it, I should check if Bridget learned anything new_, Dawn thought as she reached for her pokedex. Bridget's learned a few new moves. Ice Punch? Mom must have taught him that... Dawn put her pokedex away. Then she removed the accessories from Bridget and put them away as well before finally making an appeal.

"Okay, Bridget, let's try going with umm..." Dawn hesitated. Her first thought was the appeal she used in her first and only contest, but to do that one she had Bridget push off from the ceiling. Outside, she didn't have the luxury of using a ceiling. _Won't be able to use that technique... ok, so why don't I try Ice Punch then? Maybe make an ice sculpture or something..._

Not hearing a command, Bridget looked at Dawn expectantly. "-Well, try what?-"

"Hit the ground with an Ice Punch and put as much ice into it as you can! An Ice Punch with extra Ice!"

"-Okay, but I don't think this is going to work out the way you want it to!-" Bridget said. He raised one of his ears back and ice formed around the end, causing him to wince. He curled that ear up like a fist and then struck the ground. As Bridget had expected, there was little effect. Only a thin layer of ice at best.

"Well we definitely can't make any ice sculptures with THAT," Dawn said disappointedly.

"Surely you did not think an attack like Ice Punch would give you sufficient ice for that?" a familiar, female voice said to Dawn. With the interruption, Keira didn't even have time to critique Dawn or give her pointers. Everyone looked up instead and saw a woman and her kangaskhan, both wearing blue bandit masks, standing on the roof of Keira's house.

_She... she doesn't really think she's fooling anyone with that paper-thin disguise, does she?_ Dawn wondered. To her, it was quite obvious that the woman was her own mother, and thus the kangaskhan with her would be Jumpy.

"The power of an Ice Punch attack is determined by the power of the punch, not the coldness or power of the ice. Therefore, it spreads very little from the point of impact!" the woman, Dawn's mother in disguise, said to Dawn. "If you want ice for an ice sculpture, you should be using Ice Beam!"

_I have a TM for that, but I'm not using it, not on Bridhet at least, _Dawn thought.

"Hmph! If you're the kind of competition I have to look forward to in the next contest, it will be an easy win for me! Until then..." Dawn's mother allowed her kangaskhan to pick her up before she continued. "I have my own preparations to make. If I were you, I wouldn't bother entering today's contest! Farewell!" Joanna and Jumpy then took off from the roof, jumping down to ground level before running off toward the contest hall.

"How intense! To be pitted against the masked co-ordinator in your second contest bout!" Keira said, eyes full of anticipation.

_Masked co-ordinator?_ Dawn thought, blinking. _But... Keira... shouldn't you of all people know that's just my Mom?_

"If you're going up against her, you'll need to be extra prepared!" Keira then said to Dawn, pointing a finger at her. "Okay, we're doing this appeal seriously now! You need to have something ready that will blow her away!"

Dawn grimaced. _You could try giving me advice you know!_

* * *

Dawn spent the rest of the morning trying out different appeals with Bridget and Keira, trying to include Ice Punch in her efforts. In the end, however, it was no use. She couldn't come up with anything. As the 'masked co-ordinator' had said, Bridget couldn't get enough ice out of an Ice Punch to be useable. As a result, she decided that she would have to rely on the same technique she used last time in the appeal round.

After finishing her training, and having little time before the contest because Keira wouldn't let up, Dawn changed into the dress she wore from her previous contest and went straight to the contest hall. Since this wasn't her first contest, it was a much quicker process than the first time she had entered one. After registering, Dawn only had to wait for Bridget while he spoke with Keira's buneary and the baby before the contest.

"-Good luck, Bridget! Your competition is going to be pretty tough this time!-" Buneary said to Bridget.

"-I'll really need the luck, all things considered,-" Bridget said, frowning. "-I already know what Joanna is planning, so I'm probably not getting that last ribbon today anyway since it comes down to whether or not Dawn figures it all out.-"

"-What's a contest?-" the baby buneary asked them.

"-You'll find out in just a few more minutes, kid,-" Bridget said with a slight grin.

"-Okay. We'll be waiting with Keira, then,-" Buneary said, then left with the baby buneary to meet with Keira.

"Bridget, we're expected back stage soon, so let's go," Dawn said to him. Bridget nodded and reluctantly followed behind Dawn as she headed through the contest hall to the backstage area, carrying her pink accessory case with her instead of her usual travel bag. She had left the bag at Keira's place. When Dawn arrived backstage, she found only one person waiting for her.

"You don't listen well, do you?" Her mother, still disguised as the 'masked co-ordinator', said to Dawn when she arrived backstage. "The rest of the co-ordinators were smart enough to drop out, but I guess we can't have a contest without at least one opponent..."

Dawn narrowed her eyes at her. "Just who do you think you're fooling? I already know you set this all up to go against me in a contest. For some reason."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Even if you're the daughter of the Joanna, the contest star herself, you're just another lowly co-ordinator for me to smash in the tie-breaker round."

_Tie-breaker round?_ Dawn thought about it and could barely remember her mother mentioning it before. _That's right, now I remember. If, in the highly unlikely situation that there's a tie, the tied co-ordinators duel it out in a contest battle, where the pokemon are scored based on both their battle ability and their style. But how can she be so sure we'll tie? _Dawn furrowed her eyebrows. _No. If its Mom, she'll definitely be able to maneuver the contest in that direction somehow..._

"But now that you're here, let's get this contest started already, shall we?" Joanna said to her, taking a pokeball in her hand. "Jump...er! Jumper! Time to go on!" The pokeball opened and out came the kangaskhan again, wearing the same mask as her trainer. With the release of 'Jumper', Dexter came backstage.

"One minute until you're on, girls. Seems it'll be just the two of you," Dexter said to them. "As usual, you have until then to get your pokemon dressed up. The theme for this contest will be intangible." Dexter tipped his hat to them. "Good luck, girls," he said, then left the stage.

_...Yep, this is starting to smell more and more like a set up_, Dawn thought, frowning. _She's lucky she's my mother or else I'd suspect she's the villain_. Not wasting any time, Dawn placed her accessory case on the floor and kneeled next to it, and her disguised mother did likewise. Bridget and Jumpy moved closer to their trainers and talked while they were getting dressed up by them.

"-Have I ever mentioned how much I hate this part of contests?-" Bridget said to Jumpy. "-First you get dressed up, then you prance around in these weird accessories. Sure, dancing I can accept, but dancing while wearing all this?-" While Bridget was complaining, Dawn was dressing jim up in the items she had used before.

"-It's not that bad, sweetie,-" Jumpy said to him. She, herself, was being handed several balloons to hold and had glitter powder thrown over her. Compared to Bridget, she was getting off pretty easy. "-But dancing... well, we kangaskhan were not meant for dancing I don't think.-"

"-Could be worse. Last time, this girl was using a Steelix. It made a mess of things in the dance round and took up a lot of space.-" Jumpy looked at Bridget in shock at this revealation. She couldn't picture someone trying to use a Steelix in a contest.

By the time the dress-up phase was done, Bridget was holding a green balloon in one hand, and a blue one in the other. He was standing on the carpet from before, wearing a heroic bandana on his head, and had Dawn holding a spotlight over him. Just as Joanna had done, Dawn topped it off with glitter powder so Bridget's fur would sparkle. Jumpy, meanwhile, was just holding five different color balloons and had glitter powder thrown on her.

_Six accessories each... so she really is aiming for a tie_, Dawn thought. She realized her mother could easily fit more accessories on Jumpy in the time she had. On top of that, her mother would have been feeding Bridget the best poffin she could make, so Jumpy and Bridget would be tied in that department too. _Why though? she thought. Why does she want that contest battle?_

"Ladies and gentlemen, trainers of all ages! Without further ado, let's get this contest underway!" a male announcer's voice blared over the loudspeakers. The curtain then finally pulled away, revealing the two co-ordinators and their dressed-up pokemon. There was a full house in the audience, and Keira, Dexter, and Jacob were seated at the judges stands. Keira was accompanied by the two buneary.

"Today there will only be two contestants. First, we have the mysterious Masked Co-Ordinator and her entry, the Masked Kangaskhan!" the audience immediately boo'd, as if the masked woman was someone to be hated. A spotlight shone down on Jumpy and she put on a gruff appearance even as she stood there holding balloons.

_Well she's nothing if not thorough, even persuading the audience to get in on the act_, Dawn thought in amazement.

"And opposing the Masked Co-Ordinator is Dawn, daughter of legendary contest superstar, Joanna!" the announcer said. At this, the audience cheered. Dawn shined her own spotlight on Bridget after the announcement, letting the announcer skip turning on the one over her. With both contestants introduced, the judges quickly wrote down their scores.

"And with both co-ordinators and their pokemon introduced, let's move on to the dance round!" the announcer called out. The crowd applauded and an upbeat tune began to play over the speakers. "Dance order will be the same as the introduction order! So the masked woman and her pokemon are up first!" Jumpy stepped forward when the announcer called out Joanna, hand tapping against her side in time with the beat.

I know you don't like this part, Jumpy, but please give it your best! Joanna thought. Jumpy began to move in time with the beat, with Bridget behind her mirroring her movements. Jumpy tried to throw Bridget off with a lot of hopping, moving from left to right while shaking her hands, but Bridget was able to keep up with her movements almost effortlessly. By the time Jumpy's turn was finished, she was a bit winded. Between the time she moved back and Bridget took point, she took several deep breaths to prepare herself for the next part.

"-Hope you're ready for this, Jumpy, 'cause I ain't holding back,-" Bridget said as he passed by her. "-We were both trained by the same co-ordinator when it comes to dancing, but of the two of us, I'm much more agile!-"

Bridget was quick to prove his point when he took the stage. His moves were much more agile than when Dawn entered him in a contest, as well as being catered to throw off his opponent as much as possible. For Jumpy, that usually meant hopping around, but for Bridget that was easy, and Jumpy didn't have many other tricks up her sleeve. For Bridget, though, he took advantage of Jumpy's bulk. A jump followed by a crouch and spin was hard for Jumpy to keep up with, so she was slow for the finish when Bridget raised his hand and held up two fingers.

_When it comes to condition and dance moves, the only difference between Bridget and Jumpy is their species, thanks to Mom's training_, Dawn thought. _In a way, they were already guaranteed to be equal in some aspects, but now we move on to the real test._

"And that's it for the dancing!" the announcer said over the speakers. "The judges will write down their scores for the individual dancers. But now, it's time to move on to the final round! Make room for the talent show, the masked duo will make the first appeal!"

"Hmph." Joanna folded her arms and smirked at Dawn. "Now you'll see how a master rank co-ordinator performs in this all-important finale!" Joanna said to her as Dawn and Bridget stepped back out of the way.

I wonder what kind of techniques Jumpy will use in this contest? Dawn wondered. Though she had only ever entered beauty contests herself, this being her second contest, Dawn's mother wasn't just a master of beauty contests. She was known as the contest superstar because she was a master of all forms of contests. For Mom and Jumpy to be able to master every contest type, Jumpy must be able to adapt her attacks to any contest type. So what kind of attacks does she use?

"J...Jumper! Begin the Power Dance!" Joanna called out. Jumpy, knowing the routine by heart, immediately began to move. At first, she was swinging her fists at the air, making repeated attacks and throwing her body into a spin with each one. Dawn recognized the attack as Comet Punch. She then stopped briefly, her body emitting an orange aura as she called out a draconic power and then really started swinging her body around.

"Power Dance... I get it now..." Dawn mumbled. "She uses techniques like Comet Punch and Outrage that'd be better off in a different category, but turns them into a dance instead."

"-If she could do that during the dance round, she MIGHT actually stand a chance,-" Bridget said with a smirk.

Jumpy's dance didn't end there. Though she had to take a moment to focus after the dance, she followed up by crossing her arms as if bracing herself against an attack. To finish, she threw out her arms and let out a roar, emitting a warm glow from her body. It was a combination of Endure and Reversal.

"As expected from... the masked one! A splendid combination of physical power and grace!" Dexter said, clapping his hands. Jumpy bowed and moved back so Bridget could take the stage

_That'll be a tough act to follow, can my regular appeal hold up?_ Dawn wondered, then shook her head. _No, let's try something different! There was one idea I didn't try while practicing with Keira, I'll try that now to gain some ground!_

"Bridget, I know this will be tough, but I need you to try!" Dawn said. Bridget looked back at her curiously. "Bridget... use Fire Punch AND Ice Punch at the same time!"

"-Wh-WHAT!-" Bridget replied in shock. "-That'll be tough to do... but if I can...-" Bridget grimaced in determination and looked out toward the audience, the judges, and then Keira's buneary and the baby. "-...Alright. With something like this, I might match that performance.-"

Bridget spread out his ears and focused his power. Around his right ear, fire formed. Around the second, nothing happened at first. Bridget seemed to be straining himself, face contorting as he focused his power. It didn't seem like he could do it at first, but before long a few flecks of ice began to form around his left ear, then completely froze over. His contorted face twisted into a grin. He had his twin punches ready.

That alone should give us some points, Dawn thought, noting the judges' impressed looks. But we need something big to go out on still, so...

"Ok, Bridget, put them together now!" Dawn called out. Though Bridget didn't understand why she wanted that, he was too pre-occupied to complain. He slowly began to move his ears out in front of him, as if he was going to punch someone, but instead moved them together. More heat and cold was being focused through them as he pushed them together, and the air around him began to swirl. When his ears finally met, a blast of air and steam swirled around him, making it look like he was in the middle of a twister and ready to unleash an incredible attack.

"A simple but effective combination by Bridget and Dawn, combining fire and ice!" Dexter said, clapping his hands. "You were off to a shaky start, but that was a fine display!"

_I wonder if that was better or worse than my original technique?_ Dawn thought, then looked at her mother for approval. To her surprise, her mother had a sort of dreamy expression on her face. _What... what's with that look?_

_That combination... it came so close to meeting my expectations_, was what Joanna was thinking. In her mind she pictured what she had expected to happen with the combination, imagining a wind tunnel forming around Bridget as he rushed forward to attack with his combined Fire and Ice Punch.

"In any case, we will now announce the results," Dexter said, then took a piece of paper in his hand with the combined scores on it. After reading it over, he furrowed his brow. "My... it seems we have an unusual situation here. The two pokemon rank equally in condition, Bridget edges out the Masked Kangaskhan in the dance competition, but the kangaskhan wins in the appeal round by enough of a margin to make up for it... so we have a tie here!"

"Wow! Did you hear that, ladies and gentlemen! We have a TIE!" the announcer said excitedly. "And that means only one thing! Now we have to go on to... the tiebreaking CONTEST BATTLE!"

_And for some reason, that's exactly what Mom wanted_, Dawn thought, shoulders drooping.

"Allow me to explain the rules," Dexter said, meanwhile the crowd's benches and the judges' stand were being moved to the side of the room to give the co-ordinators more room to battle. "Each co-ordinator will have a score, and a time limit of one minute. When time is up, the co-ordinator with the most points left is the winner. However, if one co-ordinator's points reach zero, or their pokemon is knocked out, the remaining co-ordinator is the winner. Points subtracted or awarded are based on the pokemon's style and technique."

_So, in other words, a regular battle, but I need to make my attacks flashy and beautiful_, Dawn thought, a smirk crossing her lips. _Flashy attacks like that... somehow that feels like something I'd be used to, I wonder why that is? It's almost like I've done this before... but I wonder if that's what I should be focusing on?_

Once the contest hall was clear for them, Dawn and her mother took up positions with their pokemon just as if they were getting ready for a real battle. A scoreboard dropped down from the ceiling on each side of the room, showing a picture of each co-ordinator with a yellow circle under their name and a timer showing the remaining time.

"How unfortunate for you, to be facing me in a contest battle!" Joanna said smugly. "You know, in the few contests that have went to this, I've never lost once!"

"No, I think the unfortunate one is you!" Dawn said to her mother.

"Ohhohoh! Think you'll be able to make your attacks flashy enough to keep up, then?" Joanna asked her.

"Not at all." Dawn replied with a smirk, confusing Joanna.

"Co-ordinators, begin battle!" Dexter called out, and the timer started to count down.

"Bridget! Go! Jump Kick!" Dawn called out. Bridget smirked as well as he ran forward and jumped into the air. With a scream of primal rage he came crashing down toward Jumpy, kicking her in the face and knocking her onto her back. Finding the technique too vulgar, though, the judges deducted roughly a fifth of Dawn's points for it.

"Ha! Attack like that and you'll..." Joanna started to say, but Dawn cut her off.

"Now! Fire Punch, then follow up with Ice Punch!" Dawn called out. Bridget then jumped up on Jumpy's stomach, ears ready for the punch.

"-No offense, Jumpy, but a battle's a battle!-" Bridget said with a grin. He raised one ear back, fire gathering around the fluffy tip, then smashed Jumpy with it. After the fire subsided from his ear, Bridget formed ice around the other one and got ready for another punch.

"Jumpy, Endure!" Joanna called out. Jumpy braced herself against Bridget's Ice Punch, taking the attack to her crossed arms. After the two punch attacks, Dawn's deducted points left her at two-thirds her remaining points. "Now, strike back with Reversal and end this!"

"Bridget, Quick Attack!" Jumpy cried out in a rage as she focused her power, but she never got the chance to use it. In a flash of movement, Bridget smashed his body into her jaw. Jumpy's head snapped back and she was knocked out cold. Dawn's points dropped to half, but it made no difference. The knockout meant she won.

"The reason you always win the contest battle... isn't that because your opponent always focuses too much on style?" Dawn said with a smirk. "You endure their attacks, then finish them in one Reversal to make a comeback. I realized that was what you were planning when you used Endure and Reversal during your appeal. All I had to do was counter that and I'd win."

Joanna smirked. "Hmph. What you lack in co-ordinating ability, it seems you make up for in capability as a trainer."

"There you have it, folks! In an amazing display of raw power, Dawn and Bridget went straight for the knockout and take home the master rank ribbon!" The audience cheered at this announcement and two buneary rushed out onto the battlefield.

"-I'm glad you won, Bridget! I've been holding onto this for long enough, now!-" Buneary said to him as she handed him the master rank beauty ribbon.

"-Feels good to have it, we're just lucky Joanna was holding back.-" Bridget stuck the medal to his body and puffed out his chest proudly. "-Finally! I've got all my ribbons!-"

"-You were amazing, Bridget!-" the baby buneary said. "-You beat up that big pokemon like it was nothing!-"

"-Battling's more my kind of thing!-" Bridget grinned and flexed his arm. "-Hey, maybe I'll teach you a few of those punches while you're still around!-"

_Well Bridget seems to be in a pretty good mood, I've never seen him like this!_ Dawn thought, smiling as she watched the group of buneary. She then looked back toward her mother, but she was already gone. _...Typical. I bet any second now she'll show up in her regular attire and act like that wasn't her._

"Dawn!" As if on cue, Dawn heard her mother calling out to her as she rushed out onto the field. "I was watching the contest just now! I can't believe you went up against someone like that and won!"

_Predictable! You're too predictable, Mom!_ Dawn thought. _Still, guess I won't get any answers from her, and one mystery still remains... _Dawn looked toward Bridget, at the ribbon he now wore proudly. _It'd be nothing for Mom to be able to arrange a fake contest, but there's no way the judges would hand out an official ribbon. So where did that ribbon come from?_

* * *

Author's Notes: Fell a bit behind with this chapter, and it ended up a bit longer than most recent chapters. Combined with the distractions I had to deal with yesterday, I ended up being late. Second time this saga for a late chapter, first where the cause wasn't something out of my control. Still, if I was half as productive the rest of the week as I was on Sundays...

Anyway, I think the answer to where that ribbon came from is fairly obvious. There's a clue or two in the chapter, too.


	26. Chapter 26: Final Mirage! Arctic Burst!

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 26**

**Final Mirage! Arctic Blast!**

With the contest over, Dawn didn't stay in Hearthome much longer. Bridget was staying behind again as Dawn couldn't bear to separate the buneary now. It made little difference to her, anyway, given Keira was a friend of her mother's. Dawn was still missing out on a potential powerhouse, but now she had plenty of pokemon to make up for it.

_Now that I think about it, it's getting harder to decide what pokemon to bring with me_, Dawn thought, looking down at her pokeballs as she walked along Route 208. The part of the route she was arriving at had a river carving out a sort of canyon in front of Mt. Coronet. A bridge stretched out from either side, meeting at a raised island in the middle. _That island ahead might be a good spot to let my pokemon out for a bit_, she thought.

Dawn crossed the first bridge, which groaned under her weight. It was a wooden bridge, the kind almost guaranteed to fall whenever they appear in a work of fiction. The bridge was made from logs tied together and had no railings. Dawn took her time crossing it, as she had the first time, recalling that Melany in particular really seemed nervous about it. When she reached the island in the center, Dawn let out a sigh of relief.

"You'd think they'd have a REAL bridge out here if they're going to have one at all," Dawn mumbled to herself, then took a pokeball in her hand. "Well, now that I'm here, come on out everyone!" One by one, Dawn released each of her pokemon from their pokeballs. Each pokemon materialized on that small island and looked around curiously.

The total number of pokemon that Dawn owned was now up to a total of ten, two short of having two full teams of pokemon. Among the ones she had with her were Bowser, Eggman, Bahamut, Axel, Captain Falcon, and Jax. The pokemon she had in storage were Elincia, whom Dawn currently had no intention of using, Conker, and Assassin, while Bridget was still with her mother and Keira.

"Everyone, meet Axel, the newest addition to our team!" Dawn said, introducing her pokemon to the ponyta she had recently obtained. Then, to Axel, she said, "Officially, your name is still Goldie, but I'm going to call you Axel, got it memorized?" Though it had been with her since leaving Solaceon, this was the first time she had stopped to let her pokemon out for any length of time.

"-Last thing I remember is being knocked out in combat,-" Axel said, casting a glare toward Bowser. "-And now I'm with this girl? As one of her pokemon?-" Axel snorted, flames shooting out his nose. "-At least I won't be getting called 'Goldie' anymore. That's a plus I guess.-"

"Anyway, we're stopping here for a little bit before we head through Mt. Coronet. I thought it'd be a good time to train, work on techniques, and..." Dawn felt something tugging at her leg and stopped. When she looked down, she saw Eggman, looking for her DS as usual. Letting out a sigh, Dawn took her DS from her travel bag and handed it to him.

"As I was saying, we're here to train, work on special techniques, and relax." Dawn said to the rest of her pokemon. "I have TM's I still haven't used, too, so I'll figure out what I'm going to do with them. In the meantime..." Dawn looked at her pokemon, considering each of them for a moment to decide on sparring partners.

"Let's see... Bahamut, you'll train with the newcomer, Axel. Bowser, you'll train with Eggman. Jax, you'll train with Captain Falcon," Dawn said to her pokemon. "We only have a small island here so feel free to wander off a bit. Just not too far."

Almost as soon as Dawn finished speaking, two of her pokemon moved to attack. Bahamut tackled into Axel, sending both pokemon rolling down the side of the island until they crashed into the river below. Captain Falcon similarly tackled Jax, but only Jax went down into the water. Captain Falcon flew down after him.

"Well, they're eager to start at least!" Dawn said, smiling to herself, then looked at Bowser and Eggman. "Bowser, you'll probably have to convince Eggman to fight you..."

"-Convince? Ok then.-" Bowser slowly walked up to Eggman and grabbed him from behind with his mouth. Eggman dropped Dawn's DS in surprise and struggled to get free. Bowser then turned and tossed Eggman to the other side of the island, putting himself between Eggman and the DS.

"-Hey! That was mean!-" Eggman whined to Bowser.

"-You want this thing? Then you'll have to go through me to get it.-" Bowser said to him.

_I guess Bowser handled that pretty well, too. Good to know I can rely on him_, Dawn thought. She then reached into her travel bag and took out her TM case. It had a handful of TM's in it now. _Now, I wonder what TM's I should teach? I kinda want to teach someone Ice Beam, but don't have any good pokemon for that..._

Meanwhile, in the waters below, Bahamut and Axel were beginning their training. Axel thrashed frantically to try to get out of the water, eventually reaching an embankment and climbing out. Once he was on dry land his flames took care of the rest, drying him off rather quickly. With a glaring look he then scanned the water, looking for any sign of Bahamut.

"-The hell was that about! Pushing me into the water... just wait until I get that stupid dragon under my hooves!-" Axel growled under his breath. He soon had his answer as Bahamut rose from the ground under him, striking him from below with Dig. Axel whinnied in shock and, because he was scaling the side of a hill, tumbled back down into the water while Bahamut gripped the hill with his claws.

"-You'll regret letting your guard down around me!-" Bahamut called down to Axel with a grin on his face.

"-You're going to regret doing that,-" Axel growled as he stood in the water. The flames on his back rose and the water around him boiled, turning into a cloud of steam to conceal him from view.

"-Hmph! Don't expect that to slow ME down!-" Bahamut said, then brandished his claws. "-Then take this! **DRAY! GIN! CLAWWWW!**-" Bahamut jumped from the side of the hill toward the steam cloud that Axel was hiding in, raking his claws through the air in an x-shape. He was expecting to hit Axel with the attack, but splashed down into the water instead.

After a moment submerged, Bahamut's head emerged from the water, coughing and sputtering. "-What the! I HAD you!-" Bahamut said in disbelief, then looked around for Axel. He didn't see him in time to avoid the pair of hooves that landed on his head, shoving him back under the water.

"-You know, just because we fire-types don't like water, doesn't mean we can't use it to our advantage,-" Axel said to the submerged Bahamut. "-My body alone can reach temperatures hot enough to boil water, or even melt some metals. Creating a cloud like this is...-" Axel reared back and slammed his hooves down on Bahamut's back again. "-Nothing.-"

Axel held Bahamut down, drowning the dragon pokemon for knocking him into the water. Bahamut, however, wasn't prepared to go down without a fight. He was still able to dig while under Axel and dug into the ground under the water, only to immediately come back up under Axel again. Bahamut struck Axel from below while Axel was still trying to figure out what had happened, knocking him back. Bahamut took several deep breaths now that he was finally able to breathe again while Axel managed to stand up in the water, flame noticeably weaker, and glared at him.

"-I won't be defeated... by such dirty tricks...-" Bahamut said, still gasping for breath. Both pokemon were pretty exhausted by now.

Meanwhile, the battle between Bowser and Eggman was as one-sided as one might expect. Eggman was throwing his unusual duo of attacks - Water Pulse and Shock Wave - at Bowser, hoping to beat him, but Bowser endured the attacks with little effort. Continually firing attack after attack, Eggman was starting to feel tired and was panting from the effort.

"-Heh. You'll need something better than water and electricity to beat me, kid,-" Bowser said after shrugging off another Water Pulse from Eggman.

"-F...fine! You leave me with no choice then!-" Eggman glared at Bowser and started to wave his hands back and forth. "-I'll have to use my ultimate technique! Metronome!-"

Bowser tilted his head, looking at Eggman curiously. His ultimate attack involves waving his hands around? Bowser thought. The true nature of Eggman's attack soon revealed itself, however, as a glow surrounded Eggman followed by a quick spurt of water being fired at Bowser. Bowser didn't even flinch as the water hit him in the face and he quickly shook it off. "-That's your ultimate attack?-"

"-I... I messed up that one, okay!-" Eggman growled, then started waving his hands again. "-This time you're really going to get it! You'll regret coming between me and the DS!-" After a moment of waving his hands, his body glowed again and this time a blast of electricity fired out from his body and struck Bowser. Again, the grass pokemon barely flinched.

"-I think that was even weaker than your Shockwave attack,-" Bowser said to Eggman.

"-One more time! This time I'll get you for sure!-" Eggman said, then started waving his hands again. After a moment of this, he launched a real attack. This time a swirling torrent of air stretched out from his hands to engulf Bowser. Bowser winced as the harsh air currents ripped at his body. The intensity of the attack, after enduring such weak attacks previously, caught Bowser by surprise. Before it was over, Bowser fainted and dropped to the ground.

When the attack ended and the wind tunnel dispersed, Eggman blinked and looked at the unconscious form of Bowser in mild confusion. "-I...did it?-" he said, then cheered as it finally dawned on him. "-I did it! I beat Bowser!-"

_Well at least one of us can beat Bowser_, Dawn thought bitterly. That attack was Metronome, though, so beating Bowser was nothing but luck! _I don't even recognize the attack Eggman used just now..._

While Dawn was thinking about what had just happened, Eggman moved past Bowser to claim his prize and picked up the DS. Seeing this, Dawn let out a sigh. For once, she couldn't really say anything. Eggman did more or less earn it this time. Instead, she recalled Bowser, then returned to pondering her TM dilemma.

Meanwhile, with the final pair of combatants, a different story was unfolding. As usual, Captain Falcon intended to try to escape from Dawn. Being sent off to spar with Jax, separated from the others, gave her the perfect opportunity to try it.

"-Grr... that was a cheap shot...-" Jax grumbled as he stood up in the water, shaking his head. He then glared at the staravia hovering high above him. "-Hey! Get down here and fight like a pokemon!-"

If Captain Falcon had teeth, she'd be grinning. "-As you wish!-" she said, then dove down toward Jax. Jax grinned and raised his hands, ready to counter Captain Falcon's attack. Captain Falcon surprised him at the last second, though, but using Quick Attack to shoot into him in one quick movement. The attack caught Jax by surprise, knocking him over into the water.

"-Damn it! Would you quit...-" Jax looked up from the water to glare at Captain Falcon, only to see her flying higher and higher into the air. "-HEY! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING!-" he yelled after her.

Captain Falcon looked back at Jax as she flew high into the air, and again would be grinning if she could. "-Far, far away from here,-" she said to herself. She then looked up in time to get a glimpse of a wall of light blue feathers just before crashing into them. The pokemon she hit cried out at the impact, but Captain Falcon was knocked for a loop and plummeted back down into the water.

_Huh? What hit her?_ Dawn wondered when she saw Captain Falcon go down. She looked up to see what it was and gasped. Flying high overhead was a large, blue bird pokemon that seemed to have ice crystals trailing behind it. Recalling her encounters with two similar bird pokemon, Dawn immediately realized what she was up against.

"Everyone! Regroup!" Dawn called out. Confused, all five of her remaining pokemon rushed to the top of the island. Captain Falcon met up with them as well after she managed to get free from the water and, realizing what was about to happen, even Eggman put the DS out of the way. Meanwhile, the bird, curious as to what hit it, circled around and landed on the bridge in front of them.

"Everyone, be careful! We'll definitely have to fight this thing!" Dawn said to her pokemon. The group nodded in agreement.

Whatever that bird pokemon is, it blocked a perfectly good escape route! Captain Falcon thought bitterly.

"-Excuse me, but I'd like to apologize to whichever one of you it was that...-" the bird pokemon began to say, but was interrupted when Dawn suddenly yelled out.

"Now! Bahamut, Dragon Claw! Captain Falcon, Wing Attack! Axel, Flame Wheel!" Dawn called out. Her three pokemon then moved forward to attack, Axel spinning into a wheel of fire and Bahamut's claws glowing with a draconic power.

"-Nevermind then...-" The bird said. Letting out a sigh, it opened its wings, preparing to use one of its attacks to finish the three charging pokemon in one move.

"HOLD IT!" a voice called out, causing all four pokemon to stop in their tracks.

I'm not getting my hopes up this time, Dawn thought. She and her pokemon looked back toward the Hearthome-side bridge. The girl who yelled at them to stop wasn't on the bridge, however. Instead, she was hovering over it, riding on the back of an electric bird pokemon that Dawn recognized from her encounter near Jubilife. The girl Dawn recognized as well, and she was looking at Dawn with a grin on her face.

"Don't you think three on one is a little unfair?" Ashley said to her. In spite of the situation, she didn't seem the least bit upset.

"Wait! Then you're really..."

"That's right, I'm the trainer of the legendary bird pokemon you've been fighting," Ashley said to her. "Seems like you always manage to run into my pokemon instead of me, so I had a feeling this might happen when Articuno decided to fly off on its own to check out Mt. Coronet."

"-Heh. Recklessness doesn't suit you, Arti!-" Zapdos said to Articuno.

"-It has been a while since I've been in a place like this,-" Articuno said, shrugging its wings.

"So what do you say, then? Finish this one on one?" Ashley asked Dawn. "I won't even give Articuno any commands and you can use all of your pokemon if you want."

"Really!" Dawn said enthusiastically. She didn't think she really stood much of a chance, but it was worth a shot and the extra training wouldn't hurt. Especially now that she'd be fighting it one on one with each of her pokemon, rather than rushing it in an attempt to beat it.

"Of course," Ashley replied. She motioned for Zapdos to land on the bridge and jumped off when he did. "Just don't mind me, I might take a few pictures of your pokemon in the meantime," she added with a grin.

"That's fine...I guess?" Dawn said, blinking. She shrugged and turned back to the paused battle. "Okay, Bahamut, you're first up then! Dragon Claw!"

"-That works fine for me! I could use a real fight this time!-" Bahamut said, glaring at Axel from the corner of his eye. Raising his clawed hands back, still glowing from his previously interrupted attack, Bahamut charged across the bridge toward Articuno. This time, with little distance between them, Bahamut was able to cross the distance between him and Articuno before the legendary brid could react.

"-**DRAGON CLAW!**-" Bahamut yelled as he struck, slashing his claws across Articuno's body in an x-shaped pattern. Articuno flinched and stepped back, but easily took the hit.

"-My turn,-" Articuno said calmly. Articuno opened its mouth and fired a blue beam at Bahamut, freezing him near-instantly. The ice then shattered and Bahamut's unconscious form fell over.

Axel grinned when he saw Bahamut finally go down. "-HA! Good one.-"

"Should have seen that one coming..." Dawn said to herself while recalling Bahamut. "Axel, your turn now! Flame Wheel!"

"-My turn now!-" Axel said as he charged toward Articuno. He jumped into a roll as he approached, flames gathering around him until he looked like a burning wheel. Like this, he slammed into Articuno, his attack showing much more of an effect as the ice-type pokemon squawked and was knocked back by the attack. Axel bounced back after hitting Articuno and managed to land on his feet on the bridge.

"-Not bad,-" Articuno said as he shook it off. "-But you came too close without thinking.-" With that said, Articuno starting flapping its wings, sending strong gusts of wind at Axel. Axel braced himself and managed to withstand the wind at first, but after enduring for a short time he was thrown back and hit the ground at the edge of the bridge. He was knocked out on impact.

"Those two must have fought pretty hard during their training..." Dawn noted. She recalled Axel and then, realizing she had been pretty quiet all this time, looked back to see what Ashley was doing.

"That one came out pretty good..." Ashley mumbled to herself, looking over a picture she just took. "A golden flamed ponyta... that's not something you see everyday..."

_Good thing Axel didn't hear that!_ Dawn thought, wincing. She then turned back to the battle at hand. "Captain Falcon, your turn now! Wing Attack!"

"-I've been waiting for this!-" Captain Falcon growled, spreading her wings. "-I could have escaped today! She wasn't even paying attention! I would have been-" Captain Falcon's complaining was cut short by a beam striking her, encasing her in ice.

"-I have no idea what you were talking about, but you should have been paying attention to where you were going,-" Articuno said to her. The ice covering Captain Falcon's body then shattered and she fell unconscious.

"Or you can just... faint in one shot." Dawn sighed and recalled Captain Falcon. "Well, I guess it wouldn't be a legendary pokemon if it wasn't tough..."

"Not all legendary pokemon are tough," Ashley said, overhearing her. Dawn looked back at her curiously. "Though they're pretty strong, they vary in strength just like a trainer's pokemon. Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres are very tough because they've been with me for three years now, but compared to non-legendary pokemon they fall short of really powerful ones like dragonite or metagross."

"So just because they're legendary doesn't mean they're the strongest..." Dawn mumbled to herself, then looked back at Articuno. _Articuno is definitely an ice-type pokemon, and a flying-type... so..._

"Jax! You're up next!" Dawn called out, pointing at Articuno. "Attack with Rock Slide!"

"-Gladly! I've been waiting for some action!-" Jax said with a grin. He raised his hands, curling them into fists, and then slammed them into the ground. The ground cracked and sent several large chunks flying loose, hitting Articuno. Articuno cried out in pain and staggered back, clumsily raising its wings in an effort to defend itself. The attack was obviously causing a lot more damage than any of Dawn's previous efforts.

_Looks like rock-type attacks really do work well against Articuno!_ Dawn thought, pleased with the results. _And doesn't look like he's fought at all! I bet he can take at least one hit from Articuno! So we can still get in another Rock Slide and maybe even beat it!_

"-I've noticed you don't seem to give much thought to defending yourself,-" Articuno said to Jax, shooting him a glare. "-Against me, you will come to regret that.-" Articuno then threw out its wings, sending a cold chill through the air. The area around Articuno itself grew colder and colder until the wooden bridge started to freeze over. The ice continued to form across it, moving toward Jax faster and faster. Jax took a step back in surprise, but the ice still reached his feet and quickly crawled up his body until he was completely encased in ice. Unlike with Ice Beam, the ice didn't shatter.

"...Jax?" Dawn blinked in confusion. It seemed to her as if the battle was over, but she couldn't tell if Jax would only be out until the ice melted or not.

"That attack was Sheer Cold," Ashley explained to Dawn. "Very few pokemon can withstand it, and your Machoke's No Guard ability makes it particularly susceptible."

"In other words even Jax went down in one hit," Dawn said bitterly as she recalled her pokemon. "So I guess that just leaves..." Dawn looked down at Eggman, who stood ready for battle though her DS was carelessly discarded next to him.

"Ah, the game playing togepi," Ashley said, smiling lightly. Dawn was a bit surprised when she heard her say that and looked back over her shoulder at her.

"You know about that?" Dawn asked her. "How long were you watching us for, then?"

"Oh, I was watching that battle between you and Moltres," Ashley said to her, grinning though her expression quickly turned more serious. "By the way, is there anything you can tell me about the girl you fought after?"

"You mean Nina?" Dawn asked. Ashley nodded, making quick note of the name. "Well, she said she was from Kanto, and she knew you but I guess that's hardly a surprise."

"I'm more surprised that you seem to know who I am," Ashley replied with a smirk, lowering her camera and placing her hands on her hips. "Not many here in Sinnoh seem to recognize me as Kanto's champion, but you seem like you know who you're talking to. Did Nina tell you?"

"She did, but I also ran into Melany in Hearthome and May near Pastoria," Dawn said. Ashley went wide-eyed at this and looked away for a moment, thinking over the implications.

_I didn't think of this girl as anything but another trainer before, but somehow she keeps running into me and my pokemon, and she's run into Melany and May too? _Ashley frowned. _I didn't even know May was in Sinnoh! Somehow, it's like people connected to legendary pokemon gravitate toward this girl, just like how me, Rina, Melany, and May managed to meet up in the first place..._

Turning back to Dawn, Ashley asked, "Hey, I don't think I've caught your name, now that I think about it."

"It's Dawn," Dawn replied. "And you're Ashley, right?"

"Right," Ashley nodded to her. "So, Dawn, did you run into anyone by the name of Rina as well?" she asked. Dawn nodded.

"She was with Melany, actually."

_So she really has met everyone else_, Ashley thought, nodding to herself. _There's not a doubt in my mind now. This girl definitely has some connection to whatever legendary pokemon are here in Sinnoh._

"So, uh, about the battle?" Dawn asked, interrupting Ashley's thoughts.

"Oh, right!" Ashley rubbed the back of her neck and smiled. "You still have two pokemon left don't you?"

"One, actually," Dawn replied, then pointed back at Eggman. "He managed to defeat one of my pokemon during training with a lucky Metronome."

"-I wanted to make something explode,-" Eggman said, frowning.

"Well, you want to try your luck again?" Ashley asked with a smirk. "And since you'll be out of pokemon, I could fly you to wherever it is you're going so long as it isn't any further than Jubilife."

"Really?" Dawn grinned. "Hey! Think you could help me figure out what TM's to use on my pokemon, too?"

"Sure," Ashley replied, nodding. "We could look over your pokedex on the way."

"GREAT!" Dawn replied enthusiastically, then quickly turned to Eggman. "Ok, let's finish this with a bang then, Eggman! Use Metronome!"

"-With pleasure!-" Eggman replied, then moved out closer to the bridge and started waving his hands. Articuno narrowed his eyes at Eggman and braced himself for Eggman's attack, whatever it might be. Eggman eventually started to glow as he continued waving his hands. And then he glowed brighter. And brighter. Until, finally, he unleashed a massive burst of energy in all directions. The energy failed to reach Articuno, but part of the bridge was engulfed and completely disintegrated. The remains of the bridge fell and Articuno quickly flapped its wings to avoid falling with it. Eggman, meanwhile, was down for the count.

Realizing what attack Eggman had used, Dawn hit her hand against her forehead. "When I said to go out with a bang... I didn't mean literally..."

* * *

Author's Notes: Chapter name is supposed to sound like a special attack. So when you read the chapter name, picture some ice-type mage yelling, "FINAL MIRAGE! ARCTIC BURST!" before casting some massive ice spell or something.

That was the basic premise here. Dawn runs into Articuno and battles it, decided to include Ashley since it was about time Dawn met her personally. And it helped to pad out the chapter. I think I ended up with more video game references in this chapter than most chapters I've written in a while.

While this chapter isn't late (just after 11PM here) I still really need to be getting these out earlier in the day...


	27. Chapter 27: The Journey Home

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 27**

**The Journey Home**

After her battle against Articuno, Dawn flew over Mt. Coronet rather than going through courtesy of Ashley and Zapdos. The two flew over Oreburgh City, skipping it completely, and landed in front of the pokemon center. Seeing Zapdos landing in front of the center caused quite a stir, but Ashley paid little attention to it. She recalled Zapdos and when went into the center with Dawn.

"You'll want to make the changes to your team before you heal your pokemon," Ashley said to Dawn once they were inside. "Sorry I couldn't be more help with your TM dilemma though."

"That's ok, really!" Dawn replied, smiling. "You've helped me a lot. The ones I picked out just weren't as good as I thought for the pokemon I have."

"If you ever get a water or ice-type pokemon you could teach them that Ice Beam TM, though," Ashley said to her. "But I think you'll be fine on your own from now on, right?"

Dawn nodded. "Right. I just need more and better TM's, or find other ways to teach better moves to my pokemon."

"But your pokemon still have a long way to go, too, so they'll learn more powerful techniques on their own, too," Ashley said to her, stopping in the middle of the pokemon center. "Teaching your dragon-type Flamethrower is a good start to giving it a diverse set of attacks, and Thunderbolt's a good electric attack. After that, you need to give more thought to actual combos and such."

"Don't worry, I've definitely been thinking about combos!" Dawn replied with a grin, then headed over to the PC in the corner. Ashley smiled and shook her head, then walked up to the counter to hand over her own pokemon for healing.

_Only pokemon I need to take out is Conker anyway_, Dawn thought while she logged into the PC. She put in her username and password and waited for it to connect to her storage. _I've kept Jax around for a while now, so I'll switch him out and give him a break._

Dawn took Jax's pokeball from her belt and placed it on the teleporter, then briefly messed around with the computer. The pokeball glowed white and vanished, but was soon replaced by another pokeball. Dawn took this new pokeball and clipped it to her belt. _Now just have to heal the rest of my pokemon and then teach Bahamut and Conker those TM's. Wonder if I'll ever have a pokemon to teach Ice Beam to, though?_

Thinking on it for a moment, Dawn shrugged. _Any water pokemon can learn Ice Beam, right? And its not like I'm in any rush to use it._ Finished with the PC, Dawn signed off and then headed over to the front desk. There, she handed over her pokemon for healing, and then joined Ashley in the waiting area.

* * *

Meanwhile, just outside Jubilife...

-Ha... ha... can't... go any... further...-" a wild, dirt-covered eevee wheezed before collapsing. "-My paws are sore from digging... -" he whimpered. He remained lying on the ground, on his side, for a while, panting heavily.

_I was doing so well to keep up with her until she got to the mountain_, the eevee thought. _But I didn't expect her to find a way to fly over it, and now she's in a city. All that concrete makes it hard to keep an eye on her and there's few places to hide..._

Grunting with the effort, the eevee forced himself to stand and grimaced. "-But I won't give up! I almost gave up once, but that won't happen again! I'll follow this girl until I find a chance to prove my strength!-" The eevee tried to take a step forward on those shaky legs of his, only to collapse again. "-Just as soon as I get my strength back,-" he grumbled.

While the eevee was resting to regain his strength, a pair of young trainers stood nearby, watching curiously.

"Hey, sis, didn't you always say you wanted an eevee?" the young boy asked the female trainer next to him. "That one looks tired, I bet it'd be an easy catch."

"I want one, but, eww!" The girl wrinkled her nose. "That eevee is all covered in mud and dirt. I don't want a dirty eevee."

"And what if it was really a shiny eevee under all that dirt? What then?" the boy asked smugly.

"Yeah, right, like that'd ever happen," the girl replied. The two of them then left, leaving the wild eevee alone.

"-Well... at least my disguise works...-" the eevee mumbled weakly.

* * *

Back at the pokemon center in Jubilife, Dawn and Ashley's pokemon were fully healed. The girls grabbed their pokeballs and left, heading toward the city's southern exit and stopping just outside. There, Dawn released two of her pokemon, Conker and Bahamut, and used the TM's she won from the Veilstone City Game Corner to teach them new techniques.

"So... that's it?" Dawn said in disbelief, backing away from the two pokemon with a used up TM disc in each hand. "Nothing really seems any different, though..."

"Try getting them to practice the techniques," Ashley suggested. "For example, Bahamut is a ground-type, so Conker can use Thunderbolt on him without causing any damage. Perfect opportunity to test a new attack."

"-You okay with what?-" Conker asked, looking over at Bahamut.

"-Of course!-" Bahamut replied, flashing a toothy grin. "-A pokemon should always have the chance to show off a new technique and I won't feel a thing!-"

"Alright, I guess we can do that, then," Ashley said, nodding. "Okay you two, distance yourselves. Then, Conker, you'll hit Bahamut with a Thunderbolt attack." The two pokemon nodded and then ran off, distancing themselves from the two girls as well as each other.

"-Okay! I hope you're ready for this!-" Conker called out to Bahamut, grinning as electricity crackled around his body. "-Here we go! THUNDERBOLT!-" Conker cried out, firing the electricity in a bolt toward Bahamut. The bolt raced toward Bahamut and struck him head on, but Bahamut didn't even flinch. The electricity hit him without any effect, his body naturally grounding it out.

"That's much better than the attacks we've been using so far," Dawn said. Actually, now that I think about it, _I've been relying on Bide a lot, she then thought._

"Thunderbolt is one of the best electric attacks you can teach a pokemon," Ashley said, smirking to herself. "Stronger attacks than Thunderbolt tend to be less reliable, like Thunder, or have some other drawback, like Volt Tackle."

"So now we have a reliable electric attack anyway," Dawn said, looking toward Conker. Conker seemed to be quite happy with his new attack as well and fired off a second Thunderbolt at Bahamut. Like the first, though, the attack had no affect on the ground-type pokemon. When she looked at Bahamut, though, Dawn realized she had a bit of a dilemma.

"Wait, we can't test Bahamut's Flamethrower the same way, can we?" Dawn asked, turning to Ashley. "There's no pokemon type immune to fire-type attacks. So we'd have to use a pokemon just resistant to fire, wouldn't we?"

Ashley shook her head. "No, we can still test Flamethrower on a pokemon that won't be hurt by it," she said to Dawn. Dawn gave her a confused look. "Your ponyta has an ability called Flash Fire. Any pokemon with that ability, which is always a fire-type so far as I know, absorbs fire attacks and uses them to boost their own power."

"Oh yeah!" Dawn took Axel's pokeball from her belt and smiled. "I forgot about that! Okay, Axel, come on out!" The pokeball Dawn grabbed opened and released Axel out onto the field. Bahamut and Conker both turned to look at the newcomer. Bahamut's expression turned to a glare, as did Axel's when he materialized.

"-Oh great. You. Am I going to have to stare at your ugly mug everytime I come out here?-" Axel hissed at Bahamut.

"-Funny, I was just thinking of a snide remark to make about you, four legs!-" Bahamut growled. "-And I've decided I'll stick with calling you four legs!-"

Conker looked between the two in confusion. "-Okay... who's the new guy and why don't you two get along?-"

"-The name's Axel, kid, got it memorized?-" Axel said, gaze remaining focused on Bahamut.

"I can already feel the heat between those two pokemon and Bahamut hasn't even attacked yet," Ashley said jokingly, then looked at Ashley. "What happened between those two anyway?"

"I never noticed before now that they hated each other," Dawn said, looking confused. "I guess something must have happened during training, since that's the first time they met. Come to think of it, Bahamut started that off by pushing Axel into the water." Dawn smiled sheepishly. "I guess Axel didn't like that much..."

"-Gee, ya think?-" Axel grumbled, glancing back at her.

"Well, anyway, let's get this over with. Bahamut, attack Axel with Flamethrower!" Dawn called out, earning a grin from the dragon-type pokemon.

"-Fighting fire with fire! TAKE THIS!-" Bahamut opened his mouth and let out a loud cry as he released a blast of flames. "-**FLAMETHROWER!**-" The flames moved in a line toward Axel, who was grinning before the flames finally enveloped him. Rather than hurting him, the flames swirled around Axel and then began to rise from his body. Even after Bahamut's attack had ended, Axel looked like he was completely on fire. Moreso than usual.

"-That all you've got?-" Axel asked a stunned Bahamut. "-Then let me show you a REAL fire attack!-" Axel charged toward Bahamut and rolled into a wheel, becoming a giant flaming wheel as fire spewed from his body and added to the flames already surrounding him. Bahamut gritted his teeth and braced for impact and, at first, he managed to hold his ground when Axel rammed into him. Before long, however, his strength gave out as the intense heat of the flames seared his body. He was knocked back, and Axel rolled right over him.

"Okay, yeah, those two definitely don't get along," Ashley said, nodding.

Seeing Bahamut getting up and brandishing his claws, Dawn quickly took a pokeball in each of her hands. "That's enough, you two! Return!" she called out, recalling each pokemon before they could cause anymore trouble. Only Conker remained outside his pokeball.

"Looks like you'll have your hands full with those two," Ashley said to Dawn.

Dawn let out a sigh. "I never even noticed anything between those two," she said, then looked at Conker. "Well, looks like it'll be me and you heading to Twinleaf since you're still out anyway," she said to him. Conker nodded.

"Looks like their new techniques work just fine at least," Ashley said to Dawn. "Which means this is where we part ways." Ashley flashed Dawn a grin. "Hope it was as interesting hanging around me as it was with the others."

_Interesting?_ Dawn thought back, recalling her meetings with Melany, Rina, and May, as well as the time spent with them. More than anything, it felt like she had spent less time with Ashley than the others. After thinking it over, she had the perfect way to put it into words. "Somehow you were more... down to Earth than them."

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me," Ashley said, picturing what Dawn's encounters with the other girls would have been like. She pictured Melany crossdressing, Rina translating pokemon speech at any and every opportunity, and May blowing up over the slightest grievance. _Doesn't surprise me at all_, she thought.

"Where are you going next anyway?" Dawn asked Ashley.

"I'm planning to go to Iron Island next to take pictures of the wild pokemon there," Ashley said to Dawn. "I'll be spending the night here in Jubilife though since it seems to be getting kinda late in the day to be doing much more travelling. I want to check my e-mail anyway."

"I know what you mean, I'm hoping to get home before it starts getting dark!" Dawn replied, grinning wryly. "Anyway, see you later! And thanks for your help with the TM's!"

Ashley smiled at her. "Don't mention it. See you around."

The two girls departed, Ashley heading back into Jubilife and Dawn continuing southward with Conker following along beside her. As they walked, the sun was beginning to set on the distant horizon.

* * *

Dawn's trip through Route 202 was very much uneventful compared to her first trip through the route, where she had met Dusk. Back then, she had just started her journey and only had Bowser and Bridget to defend against the wild shinx that Dusk turned berserk. Curiously, Dawn didn't notice any sign of the shiny luxio that remained evolved after that encounter, but thought little of it. After a fairly short trip through Route 202, Dawn arrived in Sandgem.

"Sandgem... this town would lack anything of actual interest to me if I didn't have to come here just to pick up my packages while I was home," Dawn said, letting out a sigh. She looked around from the edge of town and quickly spotted a fairly large building near the opposite end. "And there's Professor Rowan's lab... which I guess IS a point of interest for me now..."

"-This town is even quieter than that place near the windworks,-" Conker said, thinking to himself for a moment. "-I think it was called...Flowaroamer?-"

"Well, I guess while I'm here I should stop by the lab and show Rowan my pokedex," Dawn said, nodding. "Let's go, Conker. I doubt this will take long anyway." Conker nodded and followed behind Dawn as she made the short trip across town. Once Dawn reached the lab on the other side of town she took a quick look in the windows in front of the lab, seeing if she could spot Rowan, before heading inside.

Dawn headed straight for Professor Rowan's office once she was inside, passing by a few aides that were getting ready to leave. When she reached the office at the other end of the building she opened the door and looked inside, but didn't see anyone. "Professor Rowan?" she called out to the empty room. There was no response.

"Are you looking for the professor, miss?" one of the aides asked, overhearing her. Dawn nodded. "He's in one of the labs right now." The aide pointed toward a short corridor leading off from the main room, which connected to two closed-off labs. "He's in lab two."

"Oh, thanks!" Dawn replied, then rushed off into the lab. Inside, she found the professor alone studying a black rock. Various tools were spread out on the counter he was sitting at, which ran along the perimeter of the lab. The middle of the room was kept open for pokemon. The room was large enough for just about any pokemon to fit inside.

"So this is what a pokemon lab looks like?" Dawn mumbled to herself as she looked around, then smiled sheepishly. "It doesn't look nearly as scary as I thought it would..."

"-If a human was expecting this place to look scary, what does that mean for a pokemon?-" Conker wondered aloud, shuddering.

Overhearing the two talking, Professor Rowan looked back and smiled when he saw Dawn standing there. "Ah, Dawn! This is certainly an unexpected visit. Decided to go home for a while?"

"Umm, something like that," Dawn replied, smiling sheepishly. "Thought I'd drop by since I've been working on the pokedex for you..."

"-She's been working on something for him?-" Conker said, raising an eyebrow. "-I never even noticed...-"

"So what's that thing you've got there, anyway?" Dawn asked, pointing at the black rock. She flashed him a grin. "It's some kind of evolution stone, isn't it?"

"You could say that," Rowan replied, looking back toward the rock. "But much more interesting than that. Do you know what an everstone is?" Rowan looked back at Dawn for her response and Dawn shook her head. "I see... well, an everstone is a special evolution stone. Rather than causing evolution, it prevents it."

"Why would anyone want to prevent their pokemon from evolving, though?" Dawn asked him.

"-Yeah! If a pokemon can evolve, then they should!-" Conker replied with a nod of his head. "-Take it from a pokemon that can't!-"

"Some people, or even some pokemon, have their reasons for it," Professor Rowan said to her. "This one is a particularly interesting case, though," he added, looking back toward the stone. "This everstone was used by the Hearthome gym leader Fantina to prevent her own Dusclops from evolving when your friend Dusk attempted to force it, absorbing the energy into the everstone."

"WHOA!" Dawn exclaimed, recoiling in shock. "Then... then you could use that to make some kind of antidote or something, right? Some way to protect against that ability?"

Professor Rowan raised an eyebrow at her and then shook his head. "No, nothing like that. And an everstone was proven to work, was it not?" Dawn, finally realized this, hit her hand against her head. "No, what I'm looking into is the nature of Dusk's power. And I may have found some interesting data, which I intend to look into further. From what I've discovered so far, though, it seems a legendary pokemon may be involved."

"That doesn't come as much of a surprise, somehow," Dawn said.

"In any case..." The professor turned around and got up from his chair. "Shall we see how your pokedex is coming along, then?"

"Yep!" Dawn replied. Reaching into her jacket pocket she took out the device and then handed it to the professor. "I had a feeling you'd want to see that anyway."

"Hmm. Indeed." Professor Rowan examined the data on Dawn's pokedex, nodding and stroking his chin. "Interesting... but I believe there are some entries missing." He looked at Dawn, furrowing his brow. "You've met the Hoenn girl, correct? But some of her pokemon are outside the scope of my pokedex. I may need to contact an acquaintance of mine to get an upgrade."

"Well, it would be nice if those pokemon would show up..." Dawn replied, blinking. "What would that involve, though?"

"I will need to take your pokedex for a while, basically," he said to her. "Is that alright with you?"

"Oh, that's fine!" Dawn replied, grinning. "I was planning on going home for a... short break." It wasn't exactly a lie, but Dawn was hiding just how long she actually intended to stay home for. She really had no reason to leave once she was back and only dropped by the lab since she was passing through and supposed to be working on a pokedex for Rowan.

Professor Rowan nodded. Though he found her response suspicious, he decided not to question it. "Good enough. With any luck I will be finished with your pokedex before you're leaving again."

_I doubt you'll have any trouble with that!_ Dawn thought. _I'm taking a nice relaxing vacation and training my pokemon now that my journey's pretty much over. By the time I'm going anywhere again, I'm going to be ready to beat someone like Dusk or that abomination thing._

Realizing she had spaced out, Dawn quickly shook her head and refocused her attention. "Err, right, anyway, if there's nothing else, I'll be leaving now," Dawn said to Professor Rowan.

"No, nothing I can think of," the professor replied. "Have a safe trip home."

"Okay, see you around! Let's go, Conker!" Dawn said, then turned to leave the lab. Conker followed behind her, all too eager to get out of there.

Watching Dawn leave, the professor stroked his chin, thinking to himself. _She's hiding something, but what could she possibly be hiding?_ he wondered, then frowned. _Bike shorts..._

* * *

The rest of the trip home was just as uneventful as the trip from Jubilife to Sandgem. Route 201 did bring back memories for her, though. Some good memories, like running into Professor Rowan and receiving her first pokemon. She could recall, at the time, not being too thrilled with the turn of events. She also recalled a less than happy time when she first set out and nearly lost to a wild kricketot.

By the time she arrived in Twinleaf, it was already starting to get dark. Dawn walked up to her house and had Conker produce a few sparks to provide light while she fumbled for her keys and unlocked the front door. It was an odd feeling for her, coming home to an empty house, and even felt a bit of a chill when she stepped into the darkened hall. She managed to fumble for a light switch, turning on the hall light, and then looked around.

"Doesn't really look any different from when I left it," Dawn said, then reached for the pokeballs attached to her belt. One by one she released all of her pokemon except for Axel, who she was worried would start a fire in her home. "Well guys, this is it! My home!" she said to her pokemon. They were already looking at the unfamiliar surroundings curiously. Only Bowser was ever in her home before and even he saw little of it.

"I'm going to be heading upstairs," Dawn said to them, pointing to a stairway near the end of the hall. "Then getting ready for bed since it's late and I'll actually be able to sleep in my own bed tonight. You guys feel free to sleep in the living room, but don't make a mess." Dawn then headed upstairs and left her pokemon to look around downstairs. Eggman tried to follow, but Dawn didn't notice and Eggman ran into his greatest obstacle. The stairs.

Once upstairs, Dawn went straight to her bedroom first, confirming the existance of several dresses to replace the one she had accidentally destroyed. Finally she would be able to put her jacket away. She then emptied all her games from her travel bag, leaving them on the floor near her TV. She intended to play them in the morning, and show them off to her pokemon of course.

After checking on her clothes and unpacking her games, Dawn's next stop was the bathroom. She took a quick shower, very quick as the thought that someone might be peeping lingered in the back of her mind. After showering she quickly dried off and got into her pajamas, then brushed her teeth and went straight to bed.

_It feels good to finally be in my own bed again_, Dawn thought as she started to drift to sleep. _And tomorrow... I'll finally play my games..._ Dawn's eyes slowly closed, but then suddenly opened again when she realized she didn't lock the door again. Remembering her pokemon were downstairs she relaxed and fell asleep. If anyone tried to break in, they'd be in for a few nasty surprises.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Jubilife...

_Looks like I got an e-mail from Professor Oak!_ Ashley thought, checking over her e-mail at the Jubilife City pokemon center. She touched the screen with her finger, opening the e-mail in question. _Well, let's see what Oak's letter says!_

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, that's it folks! Story over! Dawn's finally made it back home, so there's nowhere for the story to go from here! And what an uneventful note to end on, too! But that's it, we're done here, folks! No climatic battle or anything! Just a quiet walk home!

...Chapter 28 will be up next week. Will cover Dawn's pokemon reacting to her home a bit more. And someone will unexpectedly show up for a battle.


	28. Chapter 28: Secrets of the Past

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 28**

**Secrets of the Past**

"It's not that hard, Jax, just hold the remote and swing it like a baseball bat. Or a stick. Or something," Dawn said, trying to show Jax how to hold a wiimote. It was a new day for her and her pokemon, a day that promised to be a relaxing one. She was still in her pink pajamas, having very little reason to get changed on a day like today. It was already getting close to noon, but instead of getting dressed she was trying to get her machoke to play Wii Sports.

"-This is stupid,-" Jax grumbled as he gripped the wiimote. He stood to the side and positioned himself as if he was holding a baseball bat.

"That's it, you've got it now!" Dawn said to him. "Now just swing when you see the ball coming toward you and time it so the Mii hits it. And make sure you grip the wiimote tightly so it doesn't slip out of your hands!"

"-This is stupid. I just want to go back to bed,-" Jax grumbled. As instructed, he tightened his grip on the wiimote. Up until that point, Dawn had forgotten just how much stronger than her a pokemon was. Jax, in particular. The cracking noise that came from her wiimote reminded her. In tightening his grip, Jax had taken it just a bit too far.

"M-My Wiimote!" Dawn said in disbelief. She watched in horror as Jax opened his hand and the wiimote fell to the floor in several pieces.

"-Whoops.-" Jax said, then shrugged. "-Oh well. Couldn't be that important. Can I go sleep or lift weights now?-"

Dawn bent down to pick up the pieces of her wiimote and let out a sigh. "I'm starting to think teaching a pokemon to play video games is a bad idea," Dawn said, then glanced over at the togepi sitting on her bed with her DS. "In several ways..."

"-Hey, some of us just don't know our own strength,-" Jax said to her. "-One day you can twist steel pipes into a pretzel, the next you're making balloon pokemon with them.-"

"Don't worry about it. I prefer playing games with the classic controller anyway," Dawn said to Jax. "I just thought the wiimote would be a good starting point..." She let out another sigh. "Whatever, we're finished here. Go do whatever it is you're going to do."

"-In that case, I'll be outside,-" Jax replied, then exited Dawn's room. Once Jax was gone, Dawn took the classic controller from its place next to her Wii.

"My wiimote might be broke but that won't stop me from playing games all day!" Dawn said, grinning. After starting up her game, it occurred to her that there was something else she should do that day. "C-come to think of it... I should train my pokemon like I said I would..." Dawn let out a sigh and turned her game off. "Might as well get it over with..."

* * *

Meanwhile, down in the living room.

"-I don't get it! Why are you two the only ones with signature techniques!-" Bahamut growled at Conker and Bowser. "-A great pokemon such as myself deserves, no, NEEDS a signature technique!-" he said, jabbing a claw in their direction.

"-That's not really up to us, though.-" Bowser said to him. Conker nodded in agreement.

"-Right! But I'm yelling at you because Dawn can't understand me!-" Bahamut shot back.

It was at that moment that Jax came down the stairs and walked past the living room, overhearing Bahamut yelling at Bowser, and raised an eyebrow. "-All this fuss because you don't have a signature move? Why don't you come up with your own then?-" Jax said to him.

"-Come up with my own?-" That seemed to turn on the light for Bahamut. "-OF COURSE!-" he yelled, clenching his clawed hands. "-If I come up with my own signature attack then it'll be even better!-"

"-Whatever...-" Jax grumbled, shaking his head. "-I'm going outside to train.-" Jax then went to the front door, being careful not to break it as he opened it. He then stepped outside and gently closed the door behind him.

"-Hey, did he seem upset to anyone else?-" Bowser asked, looking to Bahamut and Conker for an opinion. Bahamut had already busied himself trying to think up a new technique, but Conker seemed to agree and nodded.

"-Maybe something happened between him and Dawn?-" he suggested. "-Those two didn't seem to get along very well when I first met them.-"

Just then, the three pokemon heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. Curious, and wondering if Dawn was finally coming down, they walked out to see Dawn fully dressed. Under one of her arms she was carrying Eggman, who was squirming in a vain effort to get free.

"Okay, everyone, we're going outside now!" Dawn announced to her pokemon. "Time to get some training in! So come on!" Dawn then headed for the door and stepped outside, leaving the door open so her pokemon could follow suit.

"-First Jax, now Dawn?-" Bowser shook his head. "-I don't understand what's going on at all...-"

Bahamut grinned. "-But this is the perfect chance for me to try to master a new signature technique! The timing couldn't be better!-" he said, then eagerly rushed out the door to begin training.

"-Well, he seems happy at least?-" Conker said, shrugging his small shoulders. "-I think this training is a good thing anyway. It never hurts to be stronger, right? And I want to see how my Thunderbolt technique works against a pokemon that will actually be hurt by it.-"

"-I'm not complaining about the training, something just seems out of place about it,-" Bowser said to Conker. "-I thought for sure Dawn would be done with that now that she was home.-" Bowser sighed. "-This communication barrier sucks. Wonder what the chances are of her saying something during her training?-" Bowser then headed outside with Conker following along behind him, himself starting to wonder about Dawn and her reasons for deciding to train all of a sudden.

* * *

Outside, Dawn lead her pokemon toward a more open area at the southern end of the town near a small pond. They were far from most houses, and the nearest house to the pond had been abandoned for some time. The pond itself was populated by psyducks, but Dawn didn't think their training would disturb them any.

After reaching the pond, Dawn finally released her final pokemon, Axel, from his pokeball. With her back to the pond and the rest of her pokemon lined up in front of her, Dawn made sure to release Axel far from Bahamut. "Okay, everyone, time to pair off and get some training in!" Dawn said to them.

"-What! More training!-" Axel growled in disbelief. "-Everytime I'm out of that damn pokeball it's nothing but training! Whatever happened to trainers challenging gym leaders and collecting badges or battling challenging opponents!-"

"-Sorry, pal, but Dawn isn't interested in that,-" Bowser said to him. Axel grumbled bitterly to himself. If there was one thing he had been hoping for now that he finally had a trainer, it was the chance to become known for something besides his golden flame. He wasn't going to get that in training matches.

"For pairings this time we'll have Jax and Axel, Bahamut and Bowser, and Conker and Eggman," Dawn said to them. "So everyone pair off while I... uh..." Dawn thought for a moment, scratching her head. "Watch... I guess?"

Dawn's pokemon paid little attention to her last comment, already busy pairing off. Axel and Bahamut exchanged glares as they passed by each other, moving to separate areas to train with their respective partners.

"-Well this isn't any good for my practice. I got paired with the kid,-" Conker said dejectedly while he observed his opponent.

"-Hey! You better watch it! I beat Bowser last time! I'm pretty tough!-" Eggman shot back. Bowser, overhearing him, cringed.

This kid must be tougher than he looks if he managed to beat Bowser! Conker thought, then grinned. "-Okay then, Eggman, I won't hold anything back! Let's see how you like my newest technique!-" As Conker spoke, sparks began to dance around his cheeks as he gathered electricity for the attack.

Eggman grinned and placed his hands on his sides. "-Okay! Take your best shot!-"

"-Here it comes!-" Conker yelled, then unleashed a bolt of electricity toward Eggman. Eggman kept up the brave face up until the moment when the bolt hit him, sending a powerful jolt of electricity through his body. He cried out in pain and then fell over onto his side, knocked out instantly. Conker blinked in disbelief at how easily Eggman went down and then looked over toward Bowser.

"-Lucky shot,-" Bowser grumbled. "-He hit me with a lucky shot.-"

"-HEY! FOCUS!-" Bahamut growled. "-You're supposed to be helping me come up with a signature technique like your's!-"

"-Didn't you say you were going to come up with one on your own?-" Bowser said, narrowing his eyes at him. "-And why not try combining something with Flamethrower since you just learned it?-"

The mention of combining something with Flamethrower seemed to give Bahamut just the inspiration he needed. "-OF COURSE! With that technique I can finally unleash the true burning spirit of a dragon!-"

Bowser tilted his head. "-You're still going on about that? Just what kind of technique do you think you're going to be able to come up with here?-"

Bahamut grinned a wide, toothy grin. "-Watch and learn, Bowser!-" Bahamut then reared his head back, building up a fire inside him, and thrust forward to belch a blast of intensely hot flames at Bowser. Bowser grimaced, finding himself with little choice but to endure the attack.

"-Great... and just what are you... combining this with?-" Bowser asked Bahamut between pained grunts. His voice was just barely audible over the flames.

Bahamut didn't say anything in response, his mouth being a bit full as it were, but Bowser saw quite clearly what he was doing. Bahamut extended his arms out at his sides and focused, an orange glow surrounding and extending the reach of his claws. Bahamut then closed his mouth and dashed forward, moving through the remainder of his flames to strike Bowser.

"-**ERUPTING BURNING CLAW!**-" Bahamut yelled, slashing his claws in an x-shaped movement across Bowser's head. Bowser cried out in pain as the flame-enveloped claws struck him and collapsed, the last of his strength draining away from him. Bahamut felt the heat of his own attack as well, but was much less affected by it. The flames died down shortly after Bowser fainted.

"-Heh heh! How d'ya like that D...WHAT!-" Bahamut was shocked and dismayed when he looked at Dawn, hoping she would notice the attack he just used. Instead, Dawn was staring off toward the pond, contemplating something.

_I wonder what character I should use for my first playthrough?_ she thought. _All of my old favorites are in it, but that giant gold robot could be interesting..._

"-I don't know what he was trying, but it looks like he failed horribly,-" Axel noted, grinning to himself.

"-Hey, you going to attack or what?-" Jax asked impatiently. "-I'm even giving you the first move! So you better make it count!-"

"-Oh, I'll make it count, alright!-" Axel replied confidently, golden flame rising on his back. He charged toward Jax and then rolled forward, his body becoming a flaming wheel. Jax made no attempt to dodge and instead seemed to be waiting out the attack and braced himself for the impact. Axel hit Jax and continued to roll as he pushed against him, trying to push back, flames grinding against Jax's chest.

"-Nice try...-" Jax grunted. "-But you came too close without thinking!-" Jax then suddenly grabbed Axel's sides with each hand, stopping him from spinning. Jax tried to pull back against his grip but it was no good. Then, in one quick movement, Jax flipped Axel over his shoulder and threw him hard. Axel soared through the air for several meters, eventually crashing down through the roof hanging over the front step of the abandoned sound of Axel crashing through it caught everyone's attention.

"Even though that place was abandoned, we probably shouldn't cause so much property damage," Dawn said to Jax, folding her arms. Having been distracted from her gaming thoughts, Dawn looked around to survey her pokemon. Two confirmed knockouts already. She let out a sigh and took out a pair of pokeballs, recalling Eggman and Bowser.

"You know, it's hardly training any if you knock out your partner so soon. I guess we'll have to work on that." Bahamut and Conker sheepishly looked down, realizing their mistake. "I guess that'll have to be it for now then. Maybe next time I'll come up with some combination attacks for you guys to try out."

"-Not saying anything. Not saying one damn world,-" Bahamut grumbled under his breath.

Dawn took out three more pokeballs, recalling Conker, Bahamut, and Jax. She then approached the abandoned building, where Axel was lying in front of it in a daze. Crashing through the roof and hitting his head on the ground had left him stunned. Dawn recalled him without another word and then looked up at the house.

"This place... why was it abandoned again?" Dawn wondered aloud. Glancing curiously at the building, it suddenly came to her. Something happened to the daughter of the family who lived there, and the family moved away shortly after. No matter how many times she asked, her mother would never tell her what happened, only that it was 'something'. She could remember what Lucas had told her, though, and quickly put two and two together.

_This place... could it have been... Dusk's home?_ Dawn wondered. Gulping nervously, she stepped over the rubble from the roof and reached for the front door. Turning the handle, she was surprised to find it unlocked. She then opened the door and stepped inside.

The inside of the home was pretty much empty. No furniture, no appliances, no anything. The noon sunlight brightened the empty home through curtainless windows, which Dawn was thankful for when she realized there was no electricity. Not that it mattered, there were no light bulbs either. When the family moved out, they took everything with them, knowing no one would ever be living there again. Dawn couldn't help but wonder why the place hadn't been torn down.

_For an abandoned building with a supposedly dark past, this place is boring,_ Dawn thought, stopping in the middle of what was once a kitchen. _No ghosts. No ghost pokemon. Nothing but a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Wonder what's up with that anyway?_

Looking around the kitchen, Dawn spotted a door. As she walked toward that door she felt that queasy feeling getting worse and swallowed nervously. _This door... could it lead to the basement? The basement where..._ Dawn shuddered, recalling the story Lucas had told her. Her curiosity was urging to move forward now, but she was afraid of what she might find down there.

Hesitant though she was, Dawn opened the door. The basement wasn't nearly as well lit as the upstairs, having only a pair of small, dust-covered windows for the sun to filter through. The basement was just one big, dirty room under the house, obviously not used for much aside from laundry and a furnace room. The washer and dryer were even still there, in contrast to the empty upstairs. Apparently, the family didn't think it was worth going down the basement to retrieve them.

Because there were no dividers or walls, Dawn saw clearly why the family might have been hesitant to come down. She suddenly felt sick, very sick, and covered her mouth. Drawn out on the floor with a child's colored chalk was some strange, arcane symbol. The kind one would expect to see in an evil ritual from a horror film. In the middle of that symbol, the floor was stained with blood. A lot of blood.

Images of what had transpired there began to play out in Dawn's mind. Horrified, she fled up the stairs. She didn't stop in the kitchen either, bolting straight for the door and leaping clear of the rubble that was outside. She wanted to get away from that place very quickly after what she saw. The queasy feeling in her stomach finally settled somewhat by the time she had left the house, though the sight in the basement still left her feeling sick.

"You weren't supposed to see that." Dawn froze when she heard the voice behind her. She didn't look back to see who it was. She knew who it was. Dusk. "I wonder what made you even decide to look? Just because your pokemon crashed through it? Or did that Lucas boy tell you what happened there?"

"Dusk... was that really...?"

"A stupid, naive young girl died that day," Dusk said to her, looking back at the abandoned house. "A stupid, stupid young girl whose life revolved around her obsessions. Obsessions that would drive her down a dark path..." Dusk clenched her fist as she recalled the memories and then quickly turned to face Dawn. "You! Get out your pokemon! We're battling! NOW!"

"Wh-what!" Dawn said in shock, turning to face Dusk.

"I have some pent up frustration to work out now, thanks to you, so you and your pokemon have been nominated to help me deal with it!" Dusk gestured toward the ground, creating a vortex. A banette then emerged from that vortex, its zippered mouth making it look as though it were grinning.

"Guess I don't have much of a choice now..." Dawn muttered, taking a pokeball from her belt. "Jax, this one's all your's, then!" she called out as she released Jax. She knew she was facing ghost-type pokemon, but she also knew Jax had a way to deal with that.

"You're going to regret that move," Dusk said to Dawn, taking out a familiar amber-colored orb. Dawn grimaced when she saw it. "Don't worry, I won't do anything to your pokemon with this. Rather, I think it's time I showed you another trick I'm capable of with this orb in my possession."

You mean there's MORE she can do with that thing! Dawn thought in disbelief. She noticed Dusk's own pokemon glow briefly, but nothing seemed to happen.

"Use that technique, Seeker, and finish this in one move," Dusk said to her pokemon.

"-Hehehe! With pleasure!-" Seeker said, then suddenly disappeared. Dawn and Jax looked around in confusion, trying to figure out where he went. When Seeker finally reappeared, it was from Jax's shadow. He darted out of it, ramming into Jax hard and knocking him over. Jax hit the ground and was down for the count, a dazed look in his eyes.

"What on Earth..."

"I doubt you'd recognize that technique, and I really don't feel like explaining it to you," Dusk said to her. With a wave of her hand, a vortex appeared to drag Seeker away, only for him to be replaced by a dusknoir shortly after. "Now, call out your next pokemon."

_We should have been able to hold up longer than that!_ Dawn thought, grimacing. _Is Dusk really this strong? Or is it that technique she's using? How do I fight something like that? _Dawn recalled Jax and then got another pokeball ready.

"Conker! Go! We'll hit this one with your new technique!" Dawn called out, releasing Conker. The small electric squirrel pokemon was already charging electricity in preparation to attack. "Thunderbolt!"

"-Finally! A real test for my new attack!-" Conker said excitedly, firing off a bolt of electricity at Reaper. The ghost pokemon grimaced in pain as the electricity shot through its body, but it was able to take the hit and then glared at Conker.

"A sucker punch like that is the only way you're really going to deal any damage to my Reaper, Dawn," Dusk said confidently. "Now, Reaper, it's your turn." Dusk focused on the orb and again a dark glow briefly surrounded Reaper as it was temporarily given the knowledge and power to use a new technique. As Seeker had done previously, Reaper disappeared.

"Conker, be careful! It's going to attack from your shadow!" Dawn warned.

"-My shadow?-" Conker looked down in confusion at his shadow, which was almost directly below him due to the noon-day sun. "-But I don't see any... whoa!-" Conker saw Dusknoir just as it was emerging from the shadow, catching only a brief glimpse before the pokemon was ramming into him from below. The force of the blow was strong enough to knock Conker into the air. When he hit the ground, he was out cold.

"What do you know? Two for two." Dusk grinned under her hood. "Let's keep going, then. I think I'm actually starting to enjoy this!"

Dawn recalled Conker and then took another pokeball from her belt. "Sorry, but this is my last pokemon," she said, releasing Bahamut from his pokeball. Bahamut quickly slid into a fighting stance, claws bared.

Dusk blinked. "Your... last pokemon?" She narrowed her eyes at Dawn. "And what happened to the other three?"

"They were... uh... kinda knocked out during training..." Dawn replied, grinning sheepishly and rubbing the back of her head.

Dusk shoot her head sadly. "See, now that's why you fail at training. Knocking their opponent out so easily isn't doing your pokemon as much good as a drawn out battle would. Kinda like how the lack of a challenge your pokemon is giving mine could hardly qualify as training."

_She didn't have to word it that way_, Dawn thought in dismay.

"Well, let's put this last one out of its misery too, shall we Reaper?" Dusk said to her pokemon. "One Ice Punch should do the trick. So use that." Reaper nodded and raised one fist back, ice forming around it. Bahamut braced himself, ready to move out of the way when Reaper attacked.

Suddenly, though, the ground in front of Bahamut opened up and a dirt-coated eevee emerged from the ground, grinning from ear to ear. "-My turn no-OOF!-" The eevee was caught off guard, struck by the attack that was meant for Bahamut. The force of the punch sent the eevee bouncing across the ground until it landed in the psyduck pond.

"Well that was pretty random," Dawn said as she watched the eevee disappear into the water.

_Who was that again?_ Bahamut wondered, unable to recall the eevee he had met at the Pokemon Mansion. He shook his head and then turned his attention to Reaper. "-Nevermind that! I'm going to make you hurt, now! Prepare yourself for my ultimate technique, fiend!-" Bahamut crossed his arms and opened his mouth, belching a cone of hot flames at Reaper.

"-This... is your ultimate technique?-" Reaper asked while raising a hand to shield his face. The attack was having little noticeable effect.

"-No...-" Bahamut replied, an orange glow forming around his claws. "-THIS IS! **ERUPTING BURNING CLAW!**-" While the flames still lingered, Bahamut lashed out with is claws, slashing in an 'x' across Reaper's chest. Reaper grunted in pain, the attack pushing him back and leaving him clutching his chest.

"That was actually a pretty good combo," Dawn said, blinking. "If we had a name for it, we'd be all set."

"Reaper, enough playing around," Dusk said, snapping her fingers. "Finish this. Ice Punch." Reaper nodded and raised one hand back after the pain in his chest had subsided. That hand became coated in ice. Reaper then moved toward Bahamut and smashed him in the jaw with his fist. Bahamut's head snapped back and then Bahamut himself dropped like a ton of bricks.

"Pathetic. But somehow stress-relieving," Dusk said, watching as Dawn fell to her knees from the shock of her loss. "Well, we're done here. See you around, and please stay away from my old place." Dusk then waved her hands one last time, forming a pair of vortexes to swallow up her and Reaper.

"She tossed us aside like we were nothing... was she this powerful all along? Or was it that orb she was using?" Dawn sighed. She finally held out Bahamut's pokeball, recalling him. "Either way I guess we need a LOT more training if we're going to beat her, let alone that abomination thing..."

"Oh..." Dawn blinked when she heard the voice and looked up to see a certain blonde-haired boy standing nearby, rubbing the back of his head. "Guess this means I'm too late for my heroic entry?" Dawn stared at him and said nothing, stunned by his sudden appearance. "Awkward..."

* * *

Author's Notes: Battle was originally going to be six on six, or at least Dusk was going to show off five pokemon. Then I ended up having three of Dawn's eliminated during training. Whoops.

That psyduck pond holds a fair bit of significance, by the way. Why? Well, go check that place out in your copy of Platinum. See if you find anything... interesting there.


	29. Chapter 29: Iron Island

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 29**

**Iron Island  
**

After her recent misadventure in Twinleaf, Dawn found herself on the road again. She decided it was time to really take her training seriously. Fortunately she had encountered Barry, who informed her of a good spot for training. Unfortunately, that now meant she was at least briefly paired with the most unlikely of travel partners.

"Only a little further now!" Barry assured Dawn as the small fishing boat they commandeered sailed across the strait between Jubilife and Canalave. He turned to Dawn with a huge grin on his face. "But I still can't believe this! We're travelling together and I didn't even have to drag you!"

"No, you've dragged someone else along instead," Dawn said, pointing a finger at the fisherman steering the boat. She could overhear him grumbling, likely about his battle with Barry.

"Naw! He doesn't mind!" Barry said, then glanced back at the fisherman. "Do ya, mister?"

"Damn kids... Back in my day, gyarados were respected and feared pokemon! Not fodder for no stinkin' flamin' chimp pokemon..."

Dawn sighed and looked out toward the water, wondering how she managed to get herself into this. Up until yesterday, she had no reason to really leave home. Her journey was over, so far as she was concerned. But after one confrontation with Dusk, she was on the road again. This time heading to Canalave, where she would be making only a brief stop before heading off again to her training destination.

"Come to think of it..." Dawn glanced back at Barry, who was leaning against the opposite side of the boat. "Were you ever to this place, Barry? Iron Island?"

"Never even been to Canalave I don't think. My dad mentioned it to me, though," Barry said, looking out toward the city looming in the distance. "Iron Island is a place where he did some intense training once. Place is crawling with steel, ground, and rock types that can take a lot of punishment."

_Ah, so I'm to beat up on wild pokemon it seems._ Dawn let out a sigh. _Better than what I've been doing I guess..._

Within a few short minutes their boat had crossed the remaining distance to the outskirts of Canalave. Dawn and Barry hopped off the boat and the fisherman quickly sped off once they were, swearing to himself the whole way. Finally at their destination, Dawn and Barry entered the city.

To anyone passing through the city, one thing about Canalave would immediately become apparent. It was very much a port city. The entire middle of the city was basically one big harbour, with a single bridge going across it. The bridge could be raised whenever a boat was coming through, so it was never in the way of shipping traffic.

"Well, I hate to say it, but you're on your own from here!" Barry said to Dawn, then grinned at her. "But, hey! I might even stick around for a little while so we can have a rematch when you're finished!"

"I won last time, and you want to battle me after I've done more training?" Dawn teased, sticking her tongue out at him.

"You better watch it! I've gotten a lot stronger since then! I've even got five badges now!" Barry took out his trainer card and showed it off to Dawn. "See? Only three more to go! Then I'll be ready for the big leagues!"

"In other words, two more badges since I beat you?" Dawn said with a smirk.

"It'll be three before the end of the day! Just you watch!" Barry shot back. "So you better train hard for our next battle! Or else I'll fine you! One million!" Barry then ran off, as would be expected of him, heading toward the pokemon center.

_So I guess my first task is finding a ferry that will actually take me there_, Dawn thought, looking around. _Where's a smuggler when you need one?_

Now alone, Dawn decided to check out the harbour itself and took a good look at the various ships. There were all sorts of ships moored in the harbour, from cargo ships, to ferries, to cruise ships. There were even ships Dawn had never seen before. Eventually she narrowed her focus to the ferries. It wasn't entirely obvious at a glance where they'd be going, of course, so Dawn eventually had to ask one of the sailors.

"Excuse me!" Dawn called out to the first sailor she found near the ferries. He was leaning against one while smoking a cigar. "Does this ferry go to Iron Island by any chance?"

"A ferry? To Iron Island?" The sailor laughed. "Kid, you daft? That island's deserted, you won't find any ferries going out that way!" Dawn was about to open her mouth to question him further, but then another sailor spoke up.

"Did you say you were looking to get to Iron Island?" an older sailor asked her. The second sailor was standing next to a noticeably smaller ferry. "Sorry, couldn't help but overhear you. This guy doesn't come around here often so he wouldn't know, but I ferry trainers back and forth to Iron Island all the time."

"So you can take me to Iron Island, then?" Dawn asked, an excited tone rising in her voice.

The sailor nodded. "Sure can. Just hop on my ferry whenever..." The sailor didn't even finish speaking before Dawn was making her way onto the ferry. "...you're ready." The sailor chuckled and shook his head. "She lacks patience," he said, then followed her onboard.

"Setting sail with one passenger for an uninhabited island..." the first sailor took a puff from his cigar and shook his head. "No money in that. No money at all..."

* * *

The trip to Iron Island was short, a fact Dawn was thankful for. While the ship didn't look like much on the outside, on the inside it was showing its age and lack of maintenance. Dawn realized the poor upkeep was probably because the sailor didn't charge anything, leaving Dawn to wonder if he had other work. Despite the ship's appearance, it was fast. Fast enough that they were at Iron Island in a matter of minutes.

_Glad that's over with!_ Dawn thought. She disembarked from the ferry and let out a sigh. _One of these days I'll get pokemon that can actually take me places... _Dawn looked around the island from the shoddy wooden dock she now stood on. There wasn't anything worth seeing, though, so far as Dawn could tell.

"Not much to see here, kid, so I hope you didn't come for a tour," the sailor said to her, leaning over the railing of his ship. "Once upon a time, this whole island was a mine. Workers would be going back and forth all day, and I was paid by the company to keep my ferry running between the island and Canalave."

"So now you just keep it going for trainers?" Dawn asked.

The sailor nodded, looking off toward a cave opening in the distance. "The old mine's full of strong pokemon these days. Trainers often come here to, well, train." He shrugged. "They're the only ones, though. Well, them and Riley."

"Riley?" Dawn asked.

"Another trainer. Lives out here on the island by himself," the sailor replied. "Byron, the gym leader, comes out here to see him every now and then. They say Riley's an auramaster, but there's no such thing."

_And by saying that, he's pretty much guaranteed that Riley is an auramaster_, Dawn thought, holding back a smile. _Whatever an auramaster is._

"Anyway, I'm heading back to Canalave now," the sailor said. "You should try to find Riley. He has a house around here you can call from when you need a ride back. He has the number." Dawn nodded, thinking to herself how she now conveniently had an excuse to meet the 'auramaster'.

_All that's missing now is for him to tell me, or hint at, what evil plot is afoot here_, Dawn thought, rolling her eyes. _If reality doesn't want to be confused for a video game it's going about it the wrong way._

"Well, good luck with your training, kid. See you around." The sailor then headed back inside his ship and within moments was sailing away from the island at top speed.

_All alone now,_ Dawn thought_. Guess now I go find somewhere to train, and maybe find that Riley guy._ Dawn left the dock and then proceded up a flight of stairs, which lead to a cave opening. The opening was set in the side of a large rocky hill that covered most of the island.

Immediately inside that cave, Dawn found a small cavern with a flight of stairs to her left and right leading down. Other than the stairs, all that was in the cavern were barrels and crates. _We even have the typical out of place video game scenery_, Dawn thought, frowning. _Bode well, this does not. If this is supposed to be some kind of test to see if I'm really serious about this, then the creator is a genius._

After some debate, Dawn decided to venture down the right flight of stairs and came into another, much larger cavern. The cavern was noticeably higher than it'd need to be for an old mine, with hills blocking much of Dawn's view though only about as tall as her. Again, Dawn found more of those barrels and crates scattered around the cavern. Lights, with cords running between each of them, lit the cavern, though not all of them were working.

I want to say the un-mine-like appearance is because of the wild pokemon, but I can't think of what pokemon might do this, Dawn thought, letting out a sigh. To her, it seemed more like it was meant to be an obstacle course in a video game, from what she could see. Ignoring this, she continued on through the cavern until she reached one of the hills and climbed up on top of it.

"Whoa!" Dawn said in shock, now finally getting a full view of the cavern. From where she now stood, she could see that the cavern wasn't so much hilly as it was full of trenches. Trenches that looked like something had carved them out while moving through the cavern. "Okay, if there really IS a pokemon that carved this out, I don't want to meet it..."

Dawn continued to move through the cavern, being more cautious now and constantly looking for any sign of danger or wild pokemon. She didn't know where she was going yet, only that she wanted to find a place to train and wasn't sure if that particular cavern would be a good spot. She didn't see many pokemon about, though she realized some of the boulders she was passing could very well be wild pokemon.

As she continued moving, heading toward the southern part of the cavern, she started to feel tremors. They weren't strong, just enough that Dawn could feel the ground occassionally shaking. "I have a bad feeling about this..." she mumbled after feeling a stronger tremor.

Dawn stopped where she was, hoping whatever was causing the tremors, or it would turn out to be her imagination. At first, it seemed to work, and Dawn let out a sigh of relief. As she started to walk away, though, the ground under her feet suddenly burst open and she was knocked aside as something rose up from the hole that formed. Dawn hit the ground on her right side, scraping her elbow and knee. Her travel bag landed next to her.

"Ow... what was..." Dawn began to say as she sat up, then finally saw what had hit her. "WHOA!" Dawn looked up, way up, to see the head of the steelix that now towered over her. The pokemon was huge, even for such a species. Half its body was still underground, but it already towered over twenty feet over Dawn. The pokemon was easily approaching fifty feet long in total.

_I think I've figured out what carved out this cavern now!_ Dawn thought, reaching for a pokeball with a shaky hand. The wild steelix didn't look the least bit happy for some reason and Dawn was scared witless when it suddenly let out a loud, angry roar. It lunged toward Dawn, opening its mouth to bite her. Dawn finally took out a pokeball and was about to call out a pokemon but stopped when she saw that there was now a blue-furred canine pokemon standing between her and the steelix.

_That pokemon... isn't that a lucario?_ Dawn thought, recognizing the species from her encounter with Maylene. With the lucario now blocking the steelix's attack, it aimed its bite for the lucario instead. But lucario caught the attack, grabbing the steelix's upper jaw in one hand and its lower jaw in another one.

"Lucario, push it back and use Aura Sphere!" a trainer's voice called out. Nearby, Dawn could see a man dressed in a blue blazer, matching fedora, and black pants. In a way, the trainer resembled his pokemon.

The lucario, meanwhile, followed the trainer's command exactly. He shoved back on the steelix's head, putting some distance between them. The lucario then cupped his hands, forming a ball of energy between them, and fired an Aura Sphere directly into the steelix's face. The steelix's head snapped back from the blast and the pokemon bellowed in pain.

_Axel or Bahamut could have handled this, but I think I'm just supposed to be impressed by this guy_, Dawn thought, frowning. She put the pokeball she had grabbed back on her belt. _I'm betting this guy is Riley. Didn't have to look for him at all._

"Use Force Palm next," the trainer, assumed to be Riley, commanded his pokemon. The steelix shook off the first hit and was moving toward Riley's pokemon to attack again, but Lucario jumped up to attack first. Lucario hit his palm against the steelix's forehead, sending an aura shockwave through the steelix's body on contact. The steelix growled in pain and suddenly dropped to the ground. It wasn't unconscious, but it was having trouble moving.

"Worked first try. Seems luck is truly on our side today!" Riley said with a smirk. He reached into the pocket of his blazed and produced a pokeball. "Hit it one more time for good measure, Extremespeed this time." Still in the air, Lucario suddenly shot downward in one lightning quick movement, striking steelix in the head foot first. The ground under steelix shook and cracked, but the attack only seemed to make the steelix angrier.

"And now it's my turn." Before the steelix could strike back, Riley threw the pokeball he had grabbed at it. The pokeball struck the steelix, opening and pulling it inside. Lucario fell to the ground next to the pokeball, now having nothing to stand on, and watched as it shook with the steelix's attempt to escape. Eventually the shaking stopped and it clicked, locking the steelix inside. Lucario picked up the pokeball in his paws and carried it over to Riley.

"Good work, Lucario. Byron will be interested in knowing we've managed to catch this one," Riley said, smiling as he took the pokeball from Lucario and patting his pokemon on the head. "Still, I'm curious as to why..." As Riley spoke, Lucario suddenly growled and pointed at Dawn. Riley blinked and glanced over at her.

"Oh, don't mind me!" Dawn said, smiling. "I'm fine, really!" Dawn finally stood up and brushed herself off, wincing when she touched her scraped elbow. It was only a minor scrape but it stung.

"Hmm?" Riley peered at her, and Dawn felt as though he were trying to peer into her soul. "What is your name, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I'm Dawn," Dawn replied while looking at her elbow. She was wondering what to do about it when she realized she would have packed bandages. She opened her travel bag and, sure enough, found a box. She took two bandages from the box, placing one on her elbow and one on her knee.

"Dawn? Well that's an interesting name," Riley said, smiling lightly. "I hope you don't mind that we intervened when that steelix showed up, but it is one a friend of mine had been looking for. Though it's strange that it suddenly attacked you like that..."

"It's a wild pokemon, that's normal isn't it?" Dawn asked him, but Riley shook his head.

"Not that steelix, no. Despite its size, it prefers to avoid humans rather than getting into conflict with them. Its immense size and elusiveness is what drew the gym leader, Byron, to that particular pokemon," Riley said to her. "But when it was attacking just now, it was in a rage and not thinking clearly. Something must have driven it into such a berserk state."

"But it's just one pokemon, right?" Dawn shrugged. "What if it just hit its head on a hard rock or something while digging? Or maybe it accidentally dug into an underground water source or something?"

"Ah, but it seems that steelix isn't the only pokemon that was affected," Riley said, then glanced back over his shoulder. While Dawn and Riley were talking, a pair of wild gravelers had snuck up on them. They had the same enraged look in their eyes that the steelix had. Lucario quickly moved to put himself between Riley and the gravelers.

"...Okay, maybe there is something weird going on," Dawn said while taking a pokeball from her belt. She ran over to where Riley was standing while calling out her pokemon. "Bowser! Go!" A red beam shot from the pokeball and Bowser materialized from it standing next to Lucario.

"-Bowser?-" Lucario asked, narrowing his eyes at the grass pokemon. "-She seriously named you that?-"

"-Why? What's wrong with Bowser?-" Bowser asked, but Lucario just shook his head.

"-Nevermind...-" he grumbled.

"Lucario, attack with Aura Sphere."

"Bowser, Seed Bomb!"

The two pokemon launched their attacks, Bowser spitting out several seeds that hit one of the gravelers like bullets and exploded. The graveler groaned in pain and fell over, pulling its limbs against its body so it looked like a rock again. Lucario formed a ball of energy and fired it at the other graveler with similar results, knocking it out instantly.

Once both graveler were felled, Riley looked at Dawn with a smirk on his face. "Well then. Shall we get to the bottom of this?"

* * *

Dawn and Riley together ventured further into the old mine, continuing in the same direction as Dawn was going. At first Dawn had Bowser accompanying Riley's Lucario in the fights with wild pokemon, but it soon became evident that Lucario could already cover the rock and steel types they ran into. When the wild golbats started showing up, Dawn switched to Conker.

The two trainers continued deeper into the mine, finding more and more pokemon the deeper they went. Eventually Dawn had to bring out Bowser again, as well as Bahamut. Riley, it seemed, only brought the one pokemon with him. With four pokemon now, they kept fighting off the berserked wild pokemon until Riley came across a small hole in a tunnel wall, leading into another chamber.

"This wasn't here before..." Riley said when he saw the hole. "And there's people in here. I can feel it."

"You can?" Dawn blinked. "How can..." Recalling the sailor's words, Dawn stopped before she could finish the question. It was fairly obvious to her what Riley's answer would be. "Nevermind..." she said, shaking her head. "Should we take a look inside?"

Riley nodded. "Yes. There is definitely something suspicious about this," he said. Riley then walked through the hole, followed by Lucario. Dawn nodded to her pokemon before following him inside. Bowser followed directly behind her, then Bahamut, then Conker.

Going through the hole, the trainers and their pokemon found themselves in a chamber at least twenty feet across that didn't look at all natural. It was completely square, with a raised section in the very middle of the room. A machine was stationed on that raised section, with two men in Team Galactic uniforms checking readouts. The machine was loud, making noises like an air pump.

"Everything seems to be working fine," one of them said to the other. "Seismic activity has been increasing in the area."

"We can still increase it a little further without risking the experiment," the other said. "But before that, let's get these results to Commander-"

"I get it now. You two are responsible for agitating the pokemon," Riley said. The two grunts were startled and nearly fell over when they heard him speak. "I don't care what good reason you may have, but I don't want you bringing any trouble here."

"I don't know who you are, but we have experiments to run and there's research to be done!" the first grunt yelled at Riley.

"We're Team Galactic, we'll do what we want, and we'll take what we want!" the other grunt said. "There's no way we're going to stop just because you asked us to!"

"He has a point," Dawn said to Riley. "They're not going to stop just because we asked them to."

Riley nodded, realizing she was right. "Then we'll make them stop. Lucario, Aura Sphere." Lucario quickly cupped his hands together, forming energy between them, and fired an Aura Sphere at the machine. The sphere exploded when it hit the side of the machine, the shockwave throwing the two grunts back and ripping the machine to shreds. The machine shut down almost instantly, the parts still intact making a terrible screeching noise as they slowed and eventually stopped.

"You... you destroyed our research!" one of the grunts growled and glared at Riley. "Do you have any idea how hard it was for our commander to build that under Cyrus's nose! This kind of set back... he'll have our heads for it!"

"Brother! Let's get this guy back for this!" the other grunt said. The two of them quickly stood up and took out their pokeballs.

"Dawn, are you ready?" Riley asked her. "This is a battle we cannot afford to lose."

"Ready!" Dawn replied enthusiastically. "Bahamut, you're up! Let's take these guys out!" Bahamut nodded and quickly moved forward. The grunts, meanwhile, sent out their own pokemon, consisting of a glameow and a zubat.

"You're about to learn what it means to cross Team Galactic!" the zubat's trainer said. "Zubat, confuse ray!"

"Our pokemon will frustrate you to tears!" the other grunt added. "Glameow, Hypnosis!"

"Not if we strike first." Riley said. "Lucario, attack the glameow with Aura Sphere!"

"What he said! Bahamut, Dragon Claw on the zubat!" Dawn called out.

Dawn and Riley's pokemon were much quicker on the attack than the Galactic grunt's and managed to strike before they could use their more annoying techniques. An Aura Sphere from Lucario blasted the glameow across the room, knocking it out. The glameow's owner looked pretty nervous when he recalled his pokemon.

"-EAT THIS! DRAGON CLAW!-" Bahamut yelled as he made his attack, leaping up and slashing at the zubat with his glowing claws. The zubat shrieked and crumpled to the ground. The zubat's trainer quickly recalled it, gritting his teeth.

"Bro, I think we should just get out of here! These two are tough!" the grunt that had the glameow said. The other quickly shook his head.

"Not a chance!" The grunt took out another pokeball. "Golbat, go! Let's see you deal with this one!" The pokeball he grabbed opened, releasing a golbat into the air.

"Another one?" Dawn rolled her eyes. "Conker, take care of it, will you?" Conker nodded eagerly and moved past Dawn, electricity charging in his cheeks. He then fired a bolt of electricity at the golbat, delivering a powerful shock. The golbat shrieked in pain and dropped to the ground.

"...Yeah let's get out of here," the grunt said. He recalled his golbat and then both grunts bolted out of the chamber.

"And that solves the berserk pokemon issue, but I don't really think you needed my help for this," Dawn said to Riley. "Your Lucario is pretty strong, and those two were pushovers."

"I suppose you're right, but it never hurts to be careful," Riley said, flashing a smile. "Of course, there's another reason... you came here for training, correct?"

"That's right," Dawn replied, nodding. _I have a funny feeling I know what's coming next_, she thought.

"Then why don't the two of us train together?" he asked her. "I think you might learn some... interesting techniques from it."

"Sure!" Dawn replied, forcing a smile. It wasn't quite what she expected him to say, but she didn't think it was far off. With that, the two trainers left the chamber and went off into the old mine, looking for a spot to train.

* * *

Author's Notes: I think it's fairly obvious what's going to happen next chapter, so probably no need to spell it out at this point. The training at Iron Island might end up extended over a few chapters.


	30. Chapter 30: Mid Season Power Up

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 30**

**Mid Season Power Up**

"You... seriously want me to train with this one?"

"That's right."

"But... but why him!"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"No offense to my pokemon but... HE'S A TOGEPI!" Dawn finally yelled in exasperation, pointing to the small egg-shaped pokemon who was currently playing with Dawn's DS. Dawn, Riley, Lucario, and Eggman were all gathered just inside the abandoned Iron Island mine at an entrance near Riley's home. After a brief stop at his house, they were finally ready to begin training. Riley's request to have her using Eggman shocked her, though.

"That pokemon there has a certain potential," Riley explained to Dawn.

"Potential or not, he won't be able to do anything against Lucario," Dawn pointed out. "He's been getting stronger lately, I'll give him that, but his only victory was purely by luck. He's just not that strong yet."

"He won't be training against Lucario," Riley said, holding out a cloth sack he had retrieved from his home. "He will be training against this little guy." Riley removed an egg from the sack and held it out to Dawn. The egg was a dark blue with black markings at the bottom and top, giving it a noticeable resemblance to the Lucario that stood behind Riley.

"Although I can see why you might think it, an egg wouldn't be a good training partner either," Dawn said to Riley.

"I meant the pokemon inside, of course," Riley said to Dawn. "The pokemon should be close to hatching, so keeping it company until it does so will be your first task."

"Okay..." Dawn sighed. "And why this pokemon specifically?"

"Because it is another pokemon with a certain potential, that I believe will do well under your care," Riley said to her.

"So I'm keeping the pokemon, too?" Dawn asked. Riley nodded. Behind him, Dawn noticed Lucario's eye twitching. She knew the reason, of course. The egg was obviously Lucario's, so he likely had issues with whom the egg would be going to.

"On that note, perhaps it is about time we discussed your own training," Riley said to Dawn. Dawn raised an eyebrow at him in confusion. "You see, Dawn, these two pokemon aren't the only ones with that potential I mentioned. You have it as well, to a degree I have never felt before."

_I wonder if he's getting at what I think he's getting at?_ Dawn thought, letting out a quiet sigh. _He's obviously an auramaster, like that sailor said, so if my guess is right he's saying I'm like some kind of vergence in the aura. I don't know why that'd be the case but I'm sure everything that's been going on in my life will start to make sense eventually._

"I wonder... did you feel anything when Lucario was using his Aura Sphere technique?" Riley asked Dawn, but Dawn quickly shook her head. Riley frowned. "Have you ever felt anything you couldn't explain? As if you could sense something, maybe?" Riley sighed. "It's hard to explain what it would feel like, really..."

"I don't think I've... wait..." Dawn thought for a moment, recalling when she was at Lake Valor with Cynthia. "There was one time... I thought I felt something moving..."

"So your ability isn't entirely dormant it would seem..." Riley narrowed his eyes in thought and stroked his chin. Realizing something, a smirk crossed his lips and he glanced at Dawn curiously. "You don't seem to be at all surprised by this."

"I've had no shortage of strange things happening or weird coincidences since leaving Twinleaf with a turtwig," Dawn explained. "Also, the sailor who brought me here mentioned you claimed to be an auramaster... so I kinda figured it'd turn out that you were."

Riley frowned. _Her saying it like that bothers me,_ he thought. _Makes it sound like this is all some kind of plot. Like in a video game or something. But if she already accepts that I'm an auramaster it makes it easier to move forward._

"In that case, Dawn, before we begin any training with your pokemon, I would like to see if I can help you bring that dormant power out fully," Riley said to her. "In you I sense not only someone with the ability to sense and manipulate aura, but someone with a powerful aura themselves." As he spoke, Riley mentally felt for that aura. It wasn't difficult to do. It felt to him as if there were a burning, blinding sun in front of him, which was the only reason he had to feel for it at all. He had been trying to keep his mind closed to that sense due to Dawn's powerful aura.

_Wish I could say that part was a surprise_, Dawn thought, trying to hide a smirk. "So what's the difference? Can someone have a strong aura without being able to manipulate it?"

"That's correct," Riley replied, nodding to her. "In fact I recently met two girls whose aura almost approached the level of your own, but only one had even a faint ability to sense it. But enough of that..." Riley waved his hand dismissively. "We should get you to a point where you can at least sense aura before we go any further."

"Right!" Dawn nodded enthusiastically. The thought of what kind of power or abilities might lie ahead excited her. Though she knew Riley was an auramaster, saw Lucario using aura techniques, and had a strong aura herself, she had no idea what was truly in store for her. This was the first she was hearing of any of it.

"I want you to close your eyes and clear your mind," Riley instructed Dawn. Dawn nodded and then closed her eyes. "Then try to focus on either me or Lucario, see if you can sense our auras."

"-She's not going to get it that easily,-" Lucario muttered. He then looked over at Eggman and raised an eyebrow. "-Kid, you even paying attention outside of whatever that is?-" Lucario asked him. There was no response, though. Eggman just kept playing his game.

_Ok, clear my mind and then focus on them_, Dawn thought. After a moment of trying, she opened her eyes and blinked several times. "...Wait a minute, how can I clear my mind and focus on something at the same time?"

"Clear your mind, then focus," Riley explained. "After you've cleared your mind, focus only on feeling for our auras."

"Right, right..." Dawn sighed and closed her eyes again. "Could you at least tell me more about these auramasters then? I mean, I haven't even heard the term before today..."

"Of course." Riley nodded and smirked. "Though it's interesting that you seem so eager to be involved in something you know little about."

"I have my reasons," Dawn replied. In her mind, she was picturing herself manifesting an attack akin to Lucario's Aura Sphere and yelling 'Hadoken!' as she fired. With that kind of power, she imagined, she'd be able to deal with Dusk, that 'abomination', and anything else that came her way without relying on her pokemon!

"Now," Riley said, "where should I begin?"

* * *

For hundreds of years, there have lived people who can sense and manipulate aura, a special energy found in all living creatures. These people, few in number, were known as auramasters. No one knew how or why these people had such an ability. Families with no auramasters in their lineage could suddenly give birth to one, while an auramaster would not necessarily have sons or daughters with such potential either.

The path of an auramaster was not an easy one. The training and focus required to learn the way of the auramaster meant leaving home at four years of age. Sometimes younger. But that dedication and focus turned them into proper young warriors, guardians for their time. A trained auramaster would wander across the regions, helping those in need in whatever way they could.

The auramasters first appeared during a time in which people still couldn't entirely rely on pokemon to aid them. This was because an injured pokemon took time to heal, just as a person would, and much less was known about medicine and treatment for the various species of pokemon. Thus auramasters were always looked highly upon, and their help always appreciated. Some could even aid in the healing of others, pokemon or human, through aura.

As time went on, however, this need began to diminish. More and more people became able to obtain their own pokemon, as well as being able to treat them. Thus the people became more reliant on pokemon to solve their problems than the wandering auramasters. The auramaster's place in the world began to diminish until, in modern times, only a few such individuals remain.

In modern times, few people are even aware auramasters ever existed, let alone still exist. Thanks in part to sanctioned leagues, many cities have powerful trainers ready to lend a hand and many travelling trainers who are training to challenge those leagues. In a way, the wandering league trainer has taken up the role of the wandering auramaster.

* * *

"Of course, it's not like I blame trainers or their pokemon for the widespread disappearance of auramasters from the world," Riley replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "Times change. People change. And its better to have many wandering trainers than a few wandering auramasters."

"Really?" Dawn asked, opening her eyes. Riley frowned when he realized she wasn't able to focus at all during his story. "So none of the auramasters ever gave into their hate? Let their anger flow? Fell to the darkside?"

Riley raised an eyebrow and then shook his head. "No, I think you're confusing us for a different group of guardians."

"I guess this means I won't be getting a laser sword either, will I?" Riley didn't say anything this time, only glared at her. "Okay, okay! I'll be serious now!" Dawn took a deep breath and closed her eyes again, this time making an honest effort to push all distractions out of her mind. At first, she felt nothing, but then...

"I think I can kinda feel where the two... no, three of you are..." Dawn said to Riley, though her ability to sense them dimmed as she spoke.

"Hmm... that's all you can sense?" Riley asked her. "Try again, and reach out further this time."

"Okay..." Dawn closed her eyes again and took a deep breath. "What am I supposed to be looking for though?"

"You'll know it when you see it," Riley replied, causing Dawn to frown. She cleared her mind and focused on sensing the auras around her. At first, she was still only able to sense Lucario, Riley, and Eggman. As her awareness increased, though, she could start to feel more auras and further away. Lights shone in her mind like stars in a night sky. It was hard for her to focus on an individual source, but she could still sense that three of those 'stars' were unusually bright and close together.

"I think I feel three strong auras... somewhere else on the island," Dawn said to Riley, slowly opening her eyes. "Are those what you were referring to?"

Riley nodded to her. "That's right." Riley held out the egg he was carrying, motioning for Dawn to take it. "You will take that egg to where those three auras are, and take Eggman with you as well."

"Well that's easy enough," Dawn replied, then looked toward Eggman. Having overheard the conversation, he was already waddling over to her and left the DS on the ground. He was curious about what was going on. "You ready, Eggman? I think we're going to meet some interesting people or pokemon now!"

Eggman nodded enthusiastically. "-I bet they're a boss fight!-"

"One more thing before you go. Don't use that sack to carry the egg." Dawn raised an eyebrow and looked at Riley curiously. "Instead, I want you to carry the egg in your arms and tie the sack around your head to use it as a blindfold."

"W-wait, what!" Dawn nearly shrieked. "You want me wandering around this cave blindfolded!"

Riley chuckled and nodded to her. "That's right. It will help to further your training by forcing you to rely on aura. Given time, you will be able to sense your surroundings through aura and won't have to rely on your eyes anymore."

"Alright, fine." Dawn let out a sigh and took a cloth sack in her hand. "Just don't try anything funny while I have this thing on!" Dawn folded the sack and then pulled it around her eyes, tying it with the strings at the mouth of the sack. The result was a blindfold that'd pull loose very easily, but would serve its purpose. "Okay, guess I'm off then. Let's go, Eggman!" Dawn turned to leave, but walked straight into a wall.

"-This could take a while...-" Lucario grumbled, shaking his head. Riley and Lucario watched as Dawn stumbled around the cave, tripping over rocks and walking into walls, until she was out of sight. After she was gone, Lucario spotted the DS that Eggman had left behind and quickly scooped it up. "-Alright, time to see what all the fuss is about.-"

"Now while she's busy wandering the island, I think its time I made a phone call." Riley smirked to himself. "I know a trainer that'd be more than happy to help with Dawn's training." Riley then turned and left the cave to make that call, leaving only Lucario behind. Lucario seemed to consider following for a moment but shrugged. He was content where he was for now.

* * *

Dawn wandered through the caverns of Iron Island, feeling for those three powerful auras all the way. With the blindfold on, she couldn't help the constant tripping and bumping into things as she went. The egg she was carrying was fortunately quite durable and survived Dawn's stumbling barely scratched. Dawn, however, was feeling the pain everytime she hit a rock and fell on her face.

She was lucky enough to avoid any encounters with wild pokemon, given her inability to see her surroundings. With her newfound aura sensing abilities, she was able to sense where the wild pokemon were even though she couldn't quite sense her surroundings. Using this ability, she was able to at least avoid running into any wild pokemon. This disappointed Eggman a bit as he was hoping to fight something along the way, forgetting that he still wasn't very strong yet.

Slowly getting closer to the source of the auras, Dawn heard what sounded like a battle ahead of her and could now sense a fourth and fifth aura near the first three. The three auras she had been sensing were so strong by comparison that the other two were barely noticeable. One of the weaker auras seemed to be in combat with one of the stronger auras, while the other auras were behind it, watching.

This must be quite the battle for the opponent to have such a strong aura, Dawn thought as she walked toward the source of the auras. By that point her awareness had grown. No longer was she tripping as she made her way into a small side cave. She could feel her surroundings as 'cold spots' of sorts. When she walked into that side cave, she could clearly hear the voices and the sound of battle. None of the aura sources seemed to notice her.

"Camerupt, again! Eruption!" Dawn heard a familiar voice calling out. As the weaker aura made its attack, Dawn could feel a shift in the aura, both from the pokemon and the flames that shot out of its back and came pouring down on the opponent. She could feel a shift in the aura of the opposing pokemon as well, though it didn't seem to be using any sort of offensive technique.

"I think you've let this battle go on way too long, even that attack isn't doing much now," another familiar voice said. Both voices seemed to come from the other powerful auras in the room. Dawn then noticed that the second aura seemed to interact with one of the weaker auras before feeling a shift as if the individual were turning around.

"...Dawn? What are you doing here?" the voice asked. "And why are you wearing that around your head?"

"That's... Rina?" Dawn asked, looking toward the voice as if she could see her. Rina was indeed in the cave. Pippi stood next to her, looking at Dawn and Eggman curiously. Melany was standing just in front of her, commanding a pokemon with volcano-humps on its back in battle with what looked like a robot. "Umm... it's a long story really..." Dawn eventually replied.

"-We're adventurers, learning new techniques while on our way to fight the next boss,-" Eggman said, nodding to himself. Pippi and Rina both blinked in confusion.

"What about you two? What's going on here?" Dawn asked Rina.

"It's... a long story too, I guess..." Rina replied, smiling sheepishly. "Short version, Melany has to recapture three legendary pokemon and is doing it the hard way. Though she has already caught one..."

"The hard way? What do you mean by that?" Dawn asked. In her mind, she could still see the battle going on. Melany's Camerupt was trying to use the same attack over and over, but the opponent wasn't buckling one bit. _That pokemon... it can take Camerupt's fire-type attacks pretty well. Wonder what kind of pokemon it is?_

"Well, she could just be using another legendary pokemon she caught to control them," Rina explained, looking back at Melany. "But she chose to fight them and catch them after seeing the tactics Regice used." Rina turned back to Dawn and smiled. "Basically, they're using the same tactics as she's been having them use."

"Maximize defense and attack power, then aim for the kill with Lock-On," Melany, overhearing Rina and Dawn, explained further. "Right now, Registeel is doing just that. Boosting its defenses and then healing off any damage I inflict on it with Rest. To counter that, I've had Camerupt use Focus Energy, and now I'm hoping for a lucky Eruption to finish it..."

"It's kinda funny to see Melany using luck as a strategy," Rina said.

"Yeah." Melany grinned wryly. "I'm starting to realize just how annoying it is to fight me when I'm using the Regi's like this... Camperupt, keep it up! We'll get it eventually!"

Camerupt nodded weakly. Spamming such a powerful attack over and over was wearing it out. It blasted a stream of flames from the humps on its back and angled forward, sending the flames crashing down on top of Registeel. Again, though, Registeel simply took the attack and followed up with Rest. The dots that formed the pokemon's eyes dimmed as it shut down and restored its strength.

"Melany, isn't there a better strategy you could use than this?" Rina asked her, frowning. "Camerupt's looking really tired..."

"Probably. But the best way to deal with stat increasing techniques are techniques I don't have access to right now," Melany replied, taking this time to retrieve an ultra ball from a backpack lying in front of her. "Techniques that force a pokemon to retreat to its pokeball will undo any enhancements, but that's not an option against a wild pokemon. Taunt works to prevent a pokemon from using them too, but I don't have a pokemon with me that can do that and who knows if it'd even work on a golem."

Note to self, get a pokemon that can learn those techniques if I don't already have one, Dawn thought.

"By the way, Dawn, where'd you get another egg?" Rina asked her. Hearing this, Melany glanced back at them for the first time since Dawn arrived. A few scrapes dotted the surface of the egg, but it was otherwise in one piece.

"I got this from a guy named Riley, he wants me to hatch it," Dawn replied. "He's also the reason I have this blindfold on..."

"This have anything to do with that 'aura' nonsense?" Melany asked bitterly. She shook her head and turned her attention back to the pokemon battle. "Bunch of nonsense if you ask me... Camerupt, one more time!" Camerupt took a deep breath and gathered his strength, then fired another burst of intensely hot flames to rain down on Registeel. After the flames had passed, Melany threw the ultra ball at it in an attempt to catch it. Registeel broke out shortly after being pulled inside.

"You don't believe in aura, Melany?" Dawn asked her.

"Look, kid, I've seen a lot of weird things in the past three years, but nothing to make me believe there's such a thing as aura," Melany replied, then took Camerupt's pokeball in her hand. "Camerupt, you can take a break now! Time to try a different strategy!" She recalled Camerupt, who was thankful for the break, then took out another pokeball.

"-Oh! We've found a non-believer! That means Dawn will definitely have that power!-" Eggman said excitedly.

"-Doesn't the fact that she got here blindfolded mean anything?-" Pippi wondered aloud.

"We met with Riley too, actually," Rina said to Dawn. "He said we both had strong auras, but that Melany has no connection to it and my connection relates entirely to pokemon. Or something like that." Rina smiled sheepishly. "I didn't get what he was saying at all, really."

"Magnezone, go!" Melany called out, releasing the UFO-like Magnezone from its pokeball just as Registeel was waking up. "Magnezone, get behind it, quickly! Then latch on with your magnets!" While Registeel was still waking up, Magnezone floated over its head and moved behind it, then stuck one of its magnets onto Registeel's back. Registeel turned, trying to get at Magnezone to attack, but it just ended up taking Magnezone with it.

"Good! Now hit it repeatedly with Sonicboom!" Magnezone pivoted its body to point its other magnet at Registeel. A small explosion erupted at the end of that magnet, sending several small energy blades flying into Registeel's body. "Keep at it, Magnezone!" Melany commanded. After several more explosions, and Registeel unsuccessfully trying to turn to face Magnezone, Registeel eventually decided it had taken too much damage and was forced to use Rest.

"Couldn't you have just done that in the first place?" Rina asked Melany, frowning.

"Would have been too easy then," Melany replied with a smirk. "I wanted to try my luck against this one for at least a little bit, but I guess I just couldn't do it this time, so I'll just weaken it with a technique that ignores defense. Registeel's ready to go on the offense now, but if it can't find an opening to use Lock-On then it can't win." While Melany spoke, Magnezone was still attacking and using Sonicboom on the sleeping Registeel.

"You could have done that earlier and saved Camerupt all the trouble," Rina said with a frown. Thinking the girl had been unusually quiet, Rina looked at Dawn curiously. "You okay? You didn't say anything since Melany said she didn't believe in aura..."

"I was waiting for a line about hokey religions," Dawn said to Rina. "But about that, why dismiss it outright like that, Melany?" she then asked. "Don't pokemon themselves have strange powers? And what about Rina's ability to understand pokemon?"

"-She can understand us?-" Eggman asked Pippi, blinking in disbelief.

Pippi nodded. "-For as long I've known her.-"

"Just what I said, really," Melany replied with a shrug while taking out another ultra ball. "Before today, I never heard the word 'aura' or anything to do with it. If these aura users existed at all, then why is this the first I'm hearing about it?" Melany lobbed the ultra ball at Registeel and it opened on contact, pulling Registeel inside. The ball began to roll around on the ground as Registeel tried to break free, and Magnezone remained positioned to immediately latch on should it escape.

"Maybe there is some strange power in you, even him, but I doubt it'd be anything that's supposedly so universal." As Melany spoke, the ultra ball continued to shake until it finally locked shut and stopped. Melany breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally..." she mumbled, walking over to pick up the ultra ball. "That's the last of them..."

"But even I can sense..." Dawn began to say, but stopped when she felt the egg in her hands shaking. She looked down at the egg and, though she couldn't see it, she could feel the aura of the creature inside. The egg was glowing and the shell seemingly broke away, causing Dawn to let go. The pokemon that was inside took shape as it fell to the ground, landing in a kneeling position. The pokemon looked very much like a mini-lucario, only without the thick fur coat.

"...Wow. That's twice now an egg of your's hatched while you were with us," Rina said, glancing down at Eggman.

"So what were you about to say?" Melany asked Dawn.

"Umm, nevermind..." Dawn replied, blinking as she looked down at the newly hatched pokemon. She could sense movement as the pokemon turned and looked up at her. "I think I should go back to see Riley now..."

"-Does this mean I can start training right away?-" the newly hatched riolu asked. "-I want to get started right away and learn some super-cool aura techniques!" Rina, being the only trainer present that could understand the riolu, stared at it in disbelief.

_Dawn's pokemon have some quirky personalities_, she thought.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Iron Island dock, Riley waits as a familiar ferry slowly comes in to a stop. Before the ferry could even deploy a muscular-looking man carrying a shovel hopped over the side and landed on the dock.

"Glad you could join me on such short notice, Byron," Riley said to the man. Byron stood and turned to Riley, a wide grin on his face.

"Came as soon as I could!" Byron replied. "Now let's see this trainee of your's!"

* * *

Author's Notes: Alternate title for this chapter was "A New Hope". I decided that would have been going just a bit too far...

Next chapter will cover the baby riolu and Eggman some more, but I don't expect to take Dawn's abilities with aura too far beyond just being able to sense it. She's definitely not going to be able to use anything resembling Aura Sphere at least.

This chapter seemed a bit wordy, at least at the start. That'd be the reason Riley's tale was a separate part. 'cause otherwise that'd have been Riley spewing out a lot more dialogue.


	31. Chapter 31: Training With An Iron Fist

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 31**

**Training With An Iron Fist**

Dawn dug her shovel hard into the cave wall, carving out a shovel full of soil and pebbles. After tossing the dirt aside, she paused to wipe the sweat from her forehead and looked back at the two trainers standing behind her. "How long do I have to keep doing this for? I'm not sure this even counts as training!"

"Come on, now! You need to set a good example for your pokemon!" Byron, one of the two trainers, said to her. After Dawn's egg had hatched into a riolu, Dawn returned to the cave entrance to find Riley had called the gym leader there. Dawn's pokemon - Bowser, Bahamut, Conker, Jax, Eggman, and the newly hatched riolu - stood nearby, watching as Dawn dug away at the wall.

"And what about him? He's not even paying attention!" Dawn yelled, pointing a finger at Eggman. Disappointed that they didn't fight anything, Eggman was now back to playing Dawn's DS. Riley's Lucario was watching him from a distance, gauging Eggman's reactions as he played.

"Eggman is fine like that," Riley said to her. "In a way, this could actually be considered special training for him." Dawn raised an eyebrow at him, and Riley chuckled. "You'll see what I mean soon enough."

"If you say so..." Dawn grumbled, then went back to digging away at the wall. _For all this work, there better at least be something interesting burried in this wall!_

"By the way, you didn't put that riolu in a pokeball yet, right?" Riley asked Dawn. "So where's your final pokemon? Why haven't you let that one out yet?" When he asked this, Dawn stopped digging and let out a sigh.

"Well, since I'm doing all this training, I thought I might take a shot at finally getting one of my pokemon to listen to me..." Dawn took the pokeball in question in her hand and frowned. "She's stubborn though and used to being in charge, so it probably won't be easy..."

"All that means is you need to work at it!" Byron yelled, pointing a finger at her. "You let that pokemon out and you make it listen! Show it that you're the boss now and don't back down!"

"EH!" Dawn yelled in shock, dropping the shovel she was holding. "But... but isn't that kinda cruel? I'm not sure a gym leader should be saying something like that!"

"Listen, kid, every pokemon is different," Byron explained to her. "Some pokemon can be befriended easy, others won't be. A pokemon that was the leader of its pack or whatever in the wild isn't going to be tamed any other way but making it realize its just another pokemon in your team and letting it know that it answers to you now." He then shrugged and asked, "What kind of pokemon is it, anyway?"

"A vespiquen," Dawn replied.

"Heh." Byron grinned and shook his head. "You'd have been better off just finding a female combee and evolving it. A wild vespiquen won't bow down easily, but if you released it now it couldn't return to its hive anyway. The wild combee it was leading would have found a new vespiquen by now."

"I know. I want to get it to listen to me if I can," Dawn said, then looked back at Byron. "Should I let it out of its pokeball?"

"Sure." Byron grinned. "In fact, why don't you let me try talking some sense into it?"

"If you say so..." Dawn said, then held out the pokeball and pressed the button. "Okay, Elincia, come on out!" The pokeball opened in Dawn's hand and released Elincia, who had a rather annoyed look on her face when she appeared. That annoyed look changed to one of confusion when she found herself facing Byron instead of Dawn.

"-Ha! So that girl has pawned me off to another fool, now?-" Elincia sneered. "I'm afraid you've been duped, human! There is no force on this planet that will get me to-" Elincia was quickly silenced as a floating, mirror-like pokemon suddenly dropped down and hit her in the head. "-Ow...-"

"Without my shovel, this will have to do," Byron said, his Bronzor floating up next to him. Riley moved over to where Dawn's other pokemon were and stood in front of them, almost as if he was putting himself between them and Byron. "Hey, you! Listen up!" Byron said, jabbing a finger toward Elincia. "I don't want to hear another buzz out of your mouth! You'll speak only when spoken to! Do I make myself clear!"

"-You dare to order me-ARGH!-" Vespiquen's head snapped back as Byron's Bronzor tackled into her. For an unevolved pokemon, his Bronzor was noticeably strong. Vespiquen didn't say anything after and glared at Byron defiantly.

"Now that's more like it," Byron said, grinning. "Hey, Dawn, hand me my shovel back, will ya?"

Elincia glanced back over her shoulder to see Dawn standing behind her, now holding Byron's shovel in two hands. "-Hmph. So that brat's in-" With her guard down, Elincia was once again smacked in the head by Byron's Bronzor, this time with such force that she dropped to the ground, briefly stunned. "-Owww...-" she groaned.

"Didn't I tell you to keep your mouth shut?" Byron said, then looked toward Dawn. "You gonna give me that shovel now, or what?"

Dawn quickly shook her head. "No way! I don't agree with this one bit!" Dawn said to Byron. "This isn't what a trainer is supposed to be like at all! Even if it's a disobedient pokemon, you can't just beat it up until it listens!"

"Oh?" Byron frowned. "And I suppose you think you can just raise your pokemon on friendship and kindness?" Byron snorted. "Don't be so naive!"

"Well why not? It's worked so far!" Dawn gestured toward her gathered pokemon. "Sure, we don't always agree, but we can depend on each other and I know they'll always give it their best for me!"

"-You know, I'm not going to disagree with her,-" Bowser began, "-But this is the first time she's ever said anything like this.-"

The baby riolu nodded in agreement. "-She seems nice. I'm glad I'm going with someone nice.-"

"-She's obviously just saying it because she's confronting Byron,-" Lucario said, shrugging. "-Of course, Byron's just putting on an act anyway so Dawn can befriend that pokemon. He's not cruel in the least.-"

"-He puts on a pretty convincing act...-" Bahamut grumbled, fighting back the urge to intervene.

"-I don't need you to stand up for me, girl!-" Elincia growled defiantly, finally going on the offensive. She raised her claws to strike Byron himself, but Bronzor floated in front of him and took the attack itself. Its steel body easily withstood the vespiquen's claws.

"You don't listen well, do ya, ya damn insect?" Byron growled. "Bronzor, let's teach this one a lesson! Gyro Ball!" Bronzor began spinning his body around, going faster and faster as he prepared to attack.

"Elincia, return!" Dawn called out, returning Elincia to her pokeball before Byron's pokemon could attack. "Byron! What's your problem! I thought gym leaders were supposed to be better than this!"

"Tch, don't you get it?" Byron asked her, folding his arms. "I was putting on an act. Being the bad guy so you could look like the hero for your pokemon."

"...Huh?" Dawn blinked and then frowned at him. "Don't you think a plan like that would have worked better if you said something first!"

"Naw. In my experience, the less you talk about a plan, the more likely it is to work!" Byron replied, flashing a grin at Riley. Riley smiled and shook his head. "Anyway, it might have been enough anyway. Next time you let that pokemon out, it might be more willing to listen to you." Byron said to Dawn. "Just not here."

"I'll take your word for it then..." Dawn mumbled, setting Elincia's pokeball back on her belt. "So what now?"

"Hmm..." Byron seemed to consider this for a moment, stroking his chin while his Bronzor floated around boredly now that it had nothing to do. "Well. I suppose now we can move on to training your pokemon. Except for Eggman and... err... the riolu..."

"Ryu." Dawn said. "The riolu's name is Ryu."

"Right, Ryu." Byron nodded. "Eggman and Ryu will train together, but first your Eggman isn't quite ready for his training. So, for now, we'll focus on your remaining four pokemon." Byron then grinned and took a pokeball in each of his hands. "My pokemon are tough! So let's make this a battle, four pokemon each, and I'll fight defensively so your pokemon can take a good crack at it!"

"You might not realize it, Dawn, but Byron here is considered by some to be the strongest and most experienced of Sinnoh's gym leaders," Riley said to Dawn. "Even Maylene's fighting-type pokemon can't defeat him, and he can hold his own against Volkner."

"Volkner?" Dawn asked.

"Volkner's the one who's really the strongest gym leader. Maybe even strong enough to be in the Elite Four," Byron explained. "But enough stalling already! Let's get this training started!" He held out one of the pokeballs he grabbed, releasing his pokemon. A four-legged pokemon with a body covered in steel armor appeared from the pokeball. "This here's Lairon. He'll be your first opponent."

"Okay then, there's only one pokemon I can think of looking at that thing!" Dawn said, then glanced off to where her pokemon were gathered. "Bowser, you're up first!"

Bowser shrugged. "-I can kinda see the resemblance I guess,-" he said, then rushed over to Dawn and stood in front of her. "-Either way, I'm ready!-"

"Bowser, start with Leech Seed!" Dawn called out, eager to try out Bowser's newest technique.

"That technique can easily decide a match on its own, we won't let you use it that easy! Lairon, Protect!" Lairon growled and braced himself, forming a translucent blue barrier around him. Bowser launched a seed from his mouth, but the seed merely bounced off the barrier that Byron's pokemon was using.

"A technique like protect won't stop us, though!" Dawn said to Byron. "Bowser, use Leech Seed again!" Bowser opened his mouth and launched another seed at Byron's Lairon. By then, the shield protecting Lairon was starting to fade away, and the seed fell through it to land on the Lairon's nose. It immediately sprouted small vines, latching on and absorbing energy from it.

"Better than I thought!" Byron grinned. "Then I guess we better go on the offensive! Iron Head, Lairon!" Lairon rushed toward Bowser and headbutted him in the face, attacking with his iron-armored forehead. Lairon tried to brush the seed off during the attack, but it held strong.

"If it's physical attacks, we can handle this easily! Bowser, power up with Curse!" Bowser focused and a dark aura surrounded him, increasing his physical capabilities but simultaneously slowing his movements.

_Only just started and Dawn's already got this match-up in the bag!_ Byron thought, grinning to himself. In any other battle, this would be the point where I'd switch pokemon. _Her pokemon is boosting its defense, making it harder to inflict any damage while Leech Seed slowly saps Lairon and restores her grotle. Lairon doesn't stand much of a chance of turning this battle around._

"Use Curse one more time, Bowser, then use Mega Drain!" Dawn called out next. The dark aura surrounded Bowser again, slowing his body's movement in exchange for greater strength and endurance.

_She builds strength, then goes for a special attack?_ Byron thought, furrowing his brow in contemplation. _Has she maybe realized that special attacks would work better against Lairon than physical? He then shook his head. Nevermind that. Rather, it looks like she's pretty skilled already, especially with this pokemon..._

"Alright, that's enough of that, then!" Byron said, grinning as he recalled his Lairon. Dawn raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You don't need anymore training, not with that pokemon anyway. One on one, you've already got Lairon backed into the corner. Anything we'd do now would just be flailing around helplessly."

"Oh..." Dawn smiled sheepishly and looked at Bowser. "Guess me and you really have been at this for a while though, huh?" she asked. Bower nodded in agreement. "I guess we really have been training a lot lately..."

"With all that training, you and your pokemon must be ready to aim for the Sinnoh League!" Byron said, grinning, but Dawn shook her head.

"I'm not interested, really," she replied. "I have my own reasons for wanting to be strong."

"Huh?" Byron raised an eyebrow in confusion and then shrugged. "Well, if you say so," he said, then turned and nodded to the Bronzor floating nearby. "Alright, you wanna go next, then?" he asked it. Bronzor quickly nodded and floated out in front of Byron.

_Whether she realizes it or not, Dawn is already at a point where she's quite skilled_, Riley thought. _She's not quite on our level yet, but she's not far off either. What she needs now aren't training matches like this. She needs to battle skilled opponents who can truly put her skills to the test._

"Conker, you'll take on this one!" Dawn called out to her pokemon. Conker nodded and quickly rushed over, passing Bowser on his way to rejoin the other pokemon.

"-Good luck,-" Bowser said to Conker. After joining up with the other pokemon he noticed Eggman furiously playing on Dawn's DS now. _Wow... he's really into it_, Bowser thought.

Conker walked up to Dawn without saying a word and wearing a determined-looking grin. Once Conker was standing in front of her, Dawn immediately called out an attack. "Conker, use Thunderbolt!" Conker complied and sparks shot from his cheeks as he prepared to attack.

"Bronzor, take it and retalliate with Hypnosis!" Byron called out. Conker fired a bolt of electricity from his body, pouring a huge amount of electricity into the floating metal disc. Bronzor easily withstood the attack, however, and then began to spin while sending out psychic energy waves. As the waves washed over him, Conker felt his eyelids grow heavy and then collapsed into a deep sleep.

_That wasn't a technique I expected this guy to use!_ Dawn thought in disbelief. _On top of that, Conker's Thunderbolt attack didn't do much to it either... if I don't come up with something quick, this will be another one-sided match. In Byron's favor, this time! _

"Now, Bronzor, follow up with Flash Cannon!" Bronzor stopped spinning and began to glow as he drew light toward his body. He then fired that light from his body like a cannon, hitting the sleeping Conker and knocking him over. Aside from falling over, Conker showed little affect from the attack as he was resistant to steel-type attacks.

"Keep going until it wakes up!" Byron commanded. Bronzor nodded and gathered more light, firing another blast at Conker. The dirt under Conker was blasted out, forming a small crater, but Conker himself easily withstood the attack again.

_Well it seems like Conker can take a few hits from that at least_, Dawn thought. _That'll give him enough time to wake up and try a different attack on Bronzor. _

"-Umm, excuse me? When will it be my turn to train?-" the young riolu, Ryu, asked Dawn's other pokemon. "-As I just hatched, would it not make sense for me to train the most as I have so much catching up to do?-"

"-You're training against me,-" Eggman replied. "-As soon as I beat this guy...-"

"-Err... right...-" Ryu raised an eyebrow at Eggman. Having only recently hatched, the young Ryu had no idea what Eggman was even playing with. Letting out a sigh, he said, "-I guess I'll just go train by myself for now...-" and then moved off toward the cave exit where he would have room to do so.

_Looks like Ryu is going to do some solo training_, Dawn thought, watching from the corner of her eye. _I should probably pay attention to what he does. It'll give me an idea of what he's capable of and what moves he knows._ As she thought this, she noticed Conker starting to stir. _Looks like Conker's waking up... okay, time to try a different approach to this fight, then!_

"Conker! Try attacking with Super Fang!" Conker seemed to snap awake when he heard Dawn shouting a command. Byron's Bronzor was already charging to use Flash Cannon again, so Conker quickly dashed toward it and jumped up. Opening his mouth, Conker snapped his jaws down on Bronzor and his two large incisors let off a flash at the moment of impact. The attack struck Bronzor so hard that it dropped to the ground before finishing its own attack.

"Super Fang, an attack that cuts the enemy's remaining strength in half," Byron said, grinning. "A defensive pokemon like pachirisu is more suited to attacks like that than the Thunderbolt you were throwing around before."

"Conker is a defensive pokemon?" Dawn said, blinking. "I never realized that. Come to think of it, I've been using Bide a lot and relying on electric attacks mostly against zubats and golbats..."

Byron nodded. "Then it's no surprise you didn't notice before now, you were already battling with him more defensively. You must have just taught it Thunderbolt recently."

"That's right, actually," Dawn replied, rubbing the back of her neck. Bronzor slowly floated off the ground again, looking noticeably weakened after taking a Super Fang from Conker. Dawn smirked when she saw this, realizing she could finish it off now. "Thunderbolt might not be Conker's best option, but it's still a good move for finishing off weakened pokemon! Conker, use Thunderbolt!"

"-Right! Now we know what we're doing!-" Conker said excitedly, electricity building in his cheeks. A lightning bolt then fired out from his body, hitting the floating Bronzor almost instantly and knocking it out of the air again. This time, Bronzor stayed down and Byron soon recalled it.

"Good move, but don't get too excited," Byron said to Dawn. "If this was a real match, I would have had Bronzor using Extrasensory or another psychic-type attack while your pachirisu was asleep. Bronzor was able to get in quite a few attacks, but they were steel-type, which pachirisu could resist."

"It did seem kinda odd that you were attacking like that, but it makes sense if you're trying to draw out the fight for training," Dawn said, nodding to him.

"Well let's keep this going, then!" Byron took another pokeball from his belt and gripped it tightly in his hand, then pushed the button. The pokeball opened and released a trio of magnet pokemon that were fused together by their magnets. "For the next one, I'll be using Magneton, here!"

That pokemon seems kinda familiar, I bet its an electric and steel-type pokemon, Dawn thought before calling over her next pokemon. "Conker, you can take a break. Bahamut, you're up next!" Hearing his name called, Bahamut leapt straight up into the air and crashed down onto the ground in front of Dawn, landing kneeling on one knee with his arms crossed in front of him.

"-Ready for a fight!-" Bahamut said, grinning.

"-Umm...-" Conker blinked at Bahamut's antics and then shook his head. "-I'll just be over here then,-" he said, then moved to rejoin the rest of Dawn's pokemon.

"Bahamut, let's start with..." Dawn started to say, but stopped when she caught a flash of flames from the corner of her eye. When she looked over at Ryu, though, she didn't see anything. Ryu was standing as if he had just finished an attack. _What was that? Does Ryu know some kind of fire technique?_ she wondered.

"If you're not going to pay attention, then we'll make the first move!" Byron yelled. "Magneton, attack with Tri Attack!" Each of the magnemites that made up Magneton pointed their unfused magnet at Bahamut and fired a different colored beam. One blue, one red, and one yellow. The beams were angled slightly inward, allowing them to collide and combine into a single beam that shot straight out toward Bahamut. Bahamut grunted as the beam struck him in the jaw, knocking him over.

Guess I can't let myself get distracted even by Ryu! Dawn thought, narrowing her eyes. "Bahamut, Flamethrower! Aim at the ground under you!" Bahamut quickly stood up and opened his mouth, firing a blast of flames directly at his feet which resulted in a column of fire rising around him.

"-You know, this is interesting when you think about it,-" Jax commented quietly, folding his arms. "-It's not often we get to see each other's abilities. Even when we're practicing against each other, we'd only see our opponent. Here, we're seeing each other pitted against another opponent and can watch the fight.-"

"-Yeah, guess this is a rare opportunity, now that you mention it,-" Bowser said, nodding in agreement. "-And Dawn shows a surprising amount of skill when she's up against opponents like this. If we had a third pokemon that time, or if Bridget would have co-operated, we might even have beaten Roark.-"

Riley's Lucario, overhearing them, smirked. "-Roark huh?-" he said. "-Funny you should mention that. The guy you're training against? That's Roark's father.-" Bowser and Jax's eyes widened and the two stared at Byron in shock.

"Hey now! Your pokemon is supposed to be attacking mine, remember?" Byron said to Dawn, grinning. "Magneton, attack with..." As Byron was about to call out an attack, the flames surrounding Bahamut died down to reveal only a hole in the ground where Bahamut was standing. "What the!"

"I know exactly what I'm doing!" Dawn said, grinning. Her plan was revealed in full when the ground underneath Magneton opened up. Bahamut shot out shortly after, striking the electric pokemon from below as he shot up. Sparks shot from Magneton's body and it dropped to the ground as its levitation briefly gave out.

"Okay! Now use Flamethrower!" Dawn called out to Bahamut.

"-**FINAL FLAME! THIS ENDS IT!**-" Bahamut yelled before firing a blast of flames straight down at Magneton. He eventually stopped before finally hitting the ground, but by then Magneton was already unconscious. All three of its eyes had a dazed look in them.

"-Does he always have to yell like that?-" Jax asked, scowling.

"-Yep.-" Bowser nodded. "-Everytime.-"

"Heh, and here I was trying to draw these battles out a bit more for your training." Byron said, grinning. He held out Magneton's pokeball again and recalled his pokemon. "Guess you got a bit overzealous, huh?"

"Something about a pokemon so weak to ground-type attacks made me really want to use one I guess..." Dawn sheepishly admitted. "Anyway, should we keep..."

"-I DID IT! I DID IT!-" Eggman suddenly yelled excitedly, dropping the DS and hopping up and down. "-I beat the last guy! I don't know how my guys got so strong but who cares I won! I won I won I won I...-"

Eggman stopped and blinked in confusion, feeling something strange stirring inside him. A white glow surrounded his body and he began to change. He grew an extra foot, his egg-shaped form becoming a bit more humanoid. His arms and legs grew longer, a neck and head extended up from his shell, and wings grew on his back. The glowing then faded, leaving a confused-looking togetic standing next to his DS.

"Ah, I see the young egg has finally evolved into a more mature form," Riley said with a knowing smile, then glanced over at Lucario. "I wonder if a certain pokemon had something to do with this?"

Lucario shrugged. "-Hey, I didn't have a clue what I was doing really,-" he said, then flashed Riley a grin. "-So I just ran around in one spot fighting whatever popped up.-"

"Wait, hold up! Someone want to explain this to me!" Dawn asked, looking around.

"It's simple, really," Riley said to her. "Togepi is a pokemon that evolves into its next stage when its happy." Riley glanced over at the evolved Eggman. "I noticed your togepi had a strange obsession with your gaming device. It's quite likely that it finally completed that game, which made it happy enough to evolve."

"In other words, Eggman evolved because of video games..." Dawn looked at Eggman for a moment, then over at Ryu. "What about Ryu? He can't really channel aura until he evolves either, right?"

"Eggman isn't at a point where he can yet, either," Riley said. Hearing this, Eggman and Ryu both looked at him in shock. "Only in his final form, as a Togekiss, can Eggman channel aura. You will need a special stone to make him evolve now. As for Ryu, you will need to make him happy as well." Riley smirked. "It seems he likes training and bettering himself."

"So I guess these two will need to do a lot of training on their own..." Dawn mumbled to herself.

"And that's where I come in!" Byron said, grinning as he took another pokeball from his belt. He released yet another pokemon, this one a quadraped with a large, shield-like face. "Meet Bastiodon. This guy can take a lot of punishment. Especially if the pokemon he's dealing with are those two. If they wanted, they could probably wail on him for quite some time." Bastiodon snorted and nodded in agreement. It was evident he was used to being a punching bag.

"So I guess the only question now is..." Dawn looked at Ryu again. "What attacks does Ryu know? I'm pretty sure I saw him use a fire-type technique earlier..."

"That'd likely be Blaze Kick, a technique he would have inherited from Lucario," Riley said. Ryu looked at Lucario in shock, having not realized until then that Lucario was even his father.

"-You are... but why didn't you say anything?-" Ryu asked him. Lucario shrugged.

"-It didn't seem that important. You'll be leaving with her, afterall,-" Lucario replied, pointing toward Dawn. "-It'd probably be best if you just forgot that and...-"

"-Please, father!-" Ryu quickly bowed to Lucario. "-Even if our time together is short, teach me! I wish to become stronger! To master new techniques!-"

Lucario seemed to consider the request, studying his 'son' for a moment before a smirk crossed his lips. "-Alright, fine. You probably can't use something like Aura Sphere yet, but I'll teach you what I can for now.-"

"Well then, now we're ready to start training for real," Riley said, smiling to himself.

"Alright! So what do I do?" Dawn asked. Byron then walked over to her and picked up the shovel she dropped before and held it out to her.

"Back to work," he said to her. "Your pokemon's training will be over when you've dug out a new section of tunnel."

"Back to that then?" Dawn said, letting out a sigh. Getting a determined look in her eyes, she grabbed the shovel from Roark in both her hands. "Fine! If that's how it's going to be, then let's get started right away!" She quickly turned to her pokemon and waved the shovel at them. "You hear me! You guys better train hard, because I'm going at this wall with everything I've got!" Her pokemon grinned and collectively nodded. A hard training session loomed ahead, but they were ready for it.

* * *

Author's Notes: Training, training, training. It's almost as if Dawn's taking time out from her adventure to do some level grinding herself. But the training now is going to take place mostly 'offscreen'. Next chapter, we'll be getting back on track with the plot and staying there for quite a while after. Was originally going to start that at the end of this chapter, but decided to bump it up to the start of the next chapter instead.

Also, seems Dawn is trying to learn "Dig".


	32. Chapter 32: Team Galactic Attacks

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 32**

**Team Galactic Attacks**

Dawn and her pokemon spent some time training on Iron Island, gradually becoming stronger and learning new techniques. Dawn had no idea how long she would stay there, but she knew she wanted all her pokemon to get some training in and thus she found herself rotating her team a few times. Dawn would spend all her time on that island, staying with Riley, though Byron left occassionally. During these times, she would train Elincia, who now seemed to begrudgingly accept orders from Dawn. Or at least was willing to train with Dawn's pokemon.

This day on the island was hardly any different from the others. It was early, and Dawn was in Riley's house getting ready for the day. Two of her pokemon, however, were already getting a head start on their training. Just inside the entrance to the old mine, Eggman and Ryu were engaged in a sparring match while Lucario watched.

"-Let's see you dodge this one!-" Eggman shouted. He was flying high overhead, his newly formed wings providing much more lift than such small wings should be capable of. Several leaves suddenly formed around him in the air and shot down toward Ryu, homing in on him.

"-You know as well as I do that that attack is unavoidable!-" Ryu shot back, choosing instead to cross his arms and brace himself for the blow. The sharp leaves slashed across Ryu's body before falling to the ground. "-There's no skill in firing cheap shots like that!-" Ryu growled.

Eggman snickered. "-You're just jealous that your attacks aren't nearly impossible to dodge like mine!-"

"-I don't need such a technique to land a hit!-" Ryu said, then crouched down and leapt straight up at Eggman. "-Once I learn to fully control aura, that will no longer be a concern. But, for now, I will show you how easily I can hit you with a different aura technique! Force Palm!-"

Ryu outstretched his hand as he rose up toward Eggman. His hand struck Eggman in the chest, sending an aura shockwave throughout the pokemon's body. Eggman grimaced in pain and started to fall, but he managed to catch himself and land softly on his feet. Riolu rebounded from the attack and landed only a few feet in front of Eggman.

"-For someone who hasn't mastered aura, you already have quite a few aura abilities!-" Eggman narrowed his eyes at Ryu in suspicion. "-Including the ability to say a lot in one leap. You must be cheating somehow!-"

"-The ability to wield aura grants my kind a variety of powers, but techniques such as Aura Sphere require much more control.-" Ryu replied. "-Aura Sphere is a legendary technique. Few pokemon can ever master it.-"

_I don't really think that jumping one is an aura power_, Lucario thought, frowning.

"-Regardless, this fight is still on!-" Ryu said to Eggman, crouching down and getting ready with a Quick Attack. Just as he was about to dash he felt a strange sensation and put his hand to his head.

"-Huh? Hey, are you okay?-" Eggman asked him. "-Weren't you just saying you were going to attack me or something?-" Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lucario clutching his head in his paws as if he had a terrible headache. "-You too! What's going on here!-"

"-I can feel... pain...-" Lucario grunted. "-Something... happened... thousands of pokemon are in pain... and left feeling... helpless...-"

"-I kinda sense it too...-" Ryu said, closing his eyes and trying to focus. "-I can't tell what it is... but it must be what my father is sensing...-"

"-Ah. And so, the plot finally moves forward again.-" Eggman sighed. "-I guess the final boss isn't just going to wait around while we level grind afterall...-"

Lucario shook his head and slowly lowered his hands as the intense aura he was sensing faded, then turned and glared at Eggman. "-This is serious, damn it!-" Lucario growled at him. "-Something happened. Something big...-"

"-Then what do we do about it?-" Eggman asked, still not sounding very serious.

"-Wait for Riley. Then find out what happened,-" Lucario said, looking toward the cave entrance. "-He must have felt it too, perhaps Dawn as well. They should be here shortly...-"

Training for Ryu and Eggman had now come to an abrupt halt due to the strange aura sensation. Eggman ended up pacing out of boredom while the three waited for their trainers to show up. Only a few minutes after the event, Riley and Dawn finally walked in.

"Lucario, did you sense that too?" Riley asked his pokemon. Lucario nodded. "I don't know what's going on yet, but whatever it is it can't be good..."

Dawn sighed. "Let's just hope this doesn't involve anything that could be confused for a moon. This whole situation could get out of hand otherwise..."

"No, I don't think it'd be anything like that," Riley said to her, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Though I can't even imagine what just happened. It's like someone blew up a sizeable pokemon habitat. But who would do something like that? I can't think of anything someone could gain by doing such a thing..."

"If that's the case, wouldn't it be on the news?" Dawn suggested. "I think we should all go back to your place and check the news stations..."

Riley nodded in agreement. "You have a point. Lucario?" Riley looked to his pokemon and Lucario nodded to him in return. Riley then walked toward the exit again, with Lucario soon following behind.

"Eggman, Ryu, let's go. This is something we definitely have to look into," she said to them. Both pokemon nodded in agreement and followed behind her as she left the cave.

* * *

Moments later, Dawn, Riley, and their pokemon were gathered in Riley's rather small home. It could have almost been considered an apartment room. Dawn had been sleeping on the couch in front of Riley's TV while staying there, though he did offer her the bed in the small, separate bedroom. The bedroom and bathroom were the only other rooms in the house.

TV remote in hand, Dawn flipped through the channels looking for some news. "Nothing... nothing..." Dawn stopped briefly when she came upon a commercial advertising an upcoming game. She could practically feel the glares on her from Riley and Lucario standing behind the couch and quickly moved on.

"Oh, hey! Here's something!" Dawn said, finally settling on a news station broadcasting a particular incident.

"What you have just witnessed is actual footage from the scene," an announcer said while the TV displayed an image of smoke rising over the tree tops near Lake Valor. "It was taken by a cameraman who happened to be at the scene."

"EH! Someone blew up Lake Valor!" Dawn yelled in disbelief. "But why would they do something like that!"

"If I were to guess, I would say it has something to do with the legendary pokemon said to reside within it," Riley said, nodding thoughtfully. "But to use a bomb for something like that... did they even think of the pokemon?"

"But if they blew up Lake Valor for something like that... then what about Lake Verity?" Dawn wondered, now fearing for her home town and the lake near it.

"It would be good if you could get there to look into it, wouldn't it? But we have no way of getting you there right now." Riley frowned, thinking over the dilemma. "The ferry would be the only way but even that..."

Just then, there was a frantic, heavy knocking at the door that cut Riley off. Before anyone could get up to answer it, the door suddenly flung open and Byron barged on in. "Riley! Quick! Turn on the..." He stopped midsentence when he noticed Riley and Dawn were already watching TV, and the program he specifically wanted them to see. "Err... nevermind... you already know..."

"Indeed we have," Riley said, then asked, "Have you heard anything on this?"

"Only that it's Team Galactic that did this, with a bomb they first used in the Pastoria Great Marsh," Byron explained. "No real harm was done in the Great Marsh, seems that one was a smaller bomb. We're not even sure what kind of bomb it was, we've never seen anything like it before."

"And what kind of damage was done at the lake?" Riley asked him.

"According to the report, it's been completely drained. There's magikarp flopping around everywhere now." Byron shook his head sadly. "To think we considered Team Galactic harmless..."

Dawn grimaced. _Spiked! Building!_ she thought. _And I'm pretty sure there's precedent for anyone calling themselves 'Team Something' to be evil!_

"We tried to contact Volkner, but there was no response there," Byron continued. "So Wake's being sent to investigate what they're up to there, and Candice has been dispatched to Lake Acuity just to keep an eye on things."

"What about Lake Verity?" Dawn asked, hoping someone would be going there.

"I'm about to head there personally on Skarmory," Byron replied, grinning. "In fact, the real reason I came here was to ask Riley if he'd come too." Byron looked at Riley expectantly. "Well?"

Riley shook his head. "I'm afraid not. However..." Riley glanced back at Dawn. "I believe she may be more interested in this, afterall..."

"Her?" Byron raised an eyebrow and looked at Dawn curiously, and she gave him a pleading look in return. "Well... it's true she's pretty tough. Hmm..." Byron stroked his chin, thinking it over, then shrugged. "Well, sure, why not? Even if something does go wrong, I'll be there!"

"Alright!" Dawn grinned and clenched her fists determinedly. "Well I'll be disappointed if Team Galactic doesn't show up now! I'm ready to teach them a lesson!" Dawn quickly jumped up from the couch and opened her bag, taking out a pokeball. "And if we're finally leaving, then I guess that means it's about time I put you in a pokeball, Ryu."

"-I thought as much,-" Ryu said, then turned and bowed to Lucario. "-Father, thank you for all you have taught me. I promise I will become much stronger before we meet again!-"

"-I'll believe that if you manage to evolve before then,-" Lucario replied, smiling slightly. "-You just be careful out there, alright?-"

"-Will do!-" Ryu replied, then turned and nodded to Dawn. Dawn gave the pokeball in her hand a light toss, hitting Ryu in the chest with it. The pokeball opened and pulled Ryu inside, then locked shut without any struggle. Since she already had six pokemon with her, it was also immediately sent off to storage.

"Okay, ready to go now," Dawn said to Byron. Then, to Riley, she said, "Riley, thanks for your help with my training. I think me and my pokemon have made a lot of progress this time!"

"Come back anytime you wish to train more," Riley said to her. After exchanging goodbyes, Dawn and Eggman left with Byron, leaving Riley and Lucario alone in the small house now. "Well, Lucario, there goes our only hope."

Lucario closed his eyes and folded his arms. "-I'm sure we won't have to rely on someone like her to fix this.-"

* * *

After leaving Riley's place, Dawn and Byron raced toward Lake Verity on the back of Byron's Skarmory. Eggman, still out of his pokeball, was following behind them. Meanwhile, at Lake Verity...

"To think those strange-looking fellows would be capable of something like this," Crasher Wake muttered to himself, looking out over the edge of what used to be Lake Valor. Now, only a large, damp crater remained, with what seemed like an island resting in the bottom. Around the empty lake, thousands of magikarp could be seen flopping around helplessly.

"Hmph. Well something's going to have to be done about this lake..." he said, then looked toward the island in the center. He could see several Team Galactic grunts stationed near what looked like the entrance to a cavern, as well as a helicopter nearby that was getting ready to take off. "Whatever was in there that they were after, looks like they got it. If that was a legendary pokemon, this could be trouble."

Wake stood up and grinned. "Well, I can't let them get away that easily, then! Look out, 'cause Crasher Wake's about to crash!" He then took off running, charging down the slope of the lake. It started off at a fairly shallow angle, but then suddenly became much steeper. In spite of this, Wake kept running and yelling at the top of his lungs. He couldn't stop now even if he wanted to.

"IF YA DON'T WANNA GET CRASHED ON THEN GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Wake yelled, charging toward a group of grunts standing near the island. Three of them looked toward Wake simultaneously but didn't have time to get out of the way. The three grunts were plowed through by Wake and knocked aside with such force that bones were likely broken. Wake kept running after while trying to slow himself down, eventually coming to a stop.

"Heh heh heh... nothing personal, boys..." Wake said, glancing back at his victims. "But it seems we can't write you off as a bunch of harmless spacemen anymore!"

"So one of the gym leaders has appeared..." a blue haired male, Lt. Commander Saturn, said as he emerged from the cavern. "A shame we don't have time to play, but we have an important job to do now so we'll just be taking our leave." The commander moved near the helicopter and two grunts quickly approached him.

"Sir! What about them?" a female grunt asked, pointing at the three grunts taken out by Wake's charge.

"Leave them," Saturn said. "They would just be a burden to us now."

"Heh! You talk as if I'm really just going to let you leave!" Wake clenched one fist and took a pokeball in his other hand. "Well I've got news for you, pal! You're not going anywhere!"

"Is that so? Then perhaps you should take a look behind you," Saturn said, a smirk forming on his lips. Raising an eyebrow, Wake glanced back over his shoulder. At first he didn't see anything special, but then he noticed a pile of magikarp that seemed to be isolated from the rest.

"It's just a bunch of magikarp. They're all over the place because of you guys," Wake said bitterly.

"There's more to it than that, I'm afraid," Saturn said. "I had some grunts seek out some magikarp with particularly nasty dispositions and piled them near another bomb with an everstone attached. If that bomb were to go off, those magikarp would be flung far and wide. Without the everstone."

Wake glared at him. "Just what are you saying?"

"Those magikarp would undoubtedly survive both the explosion and the fall, but likewise this will no doubt drive them over the edge. They will evolve into gyarados." Saturn's smirk turned into a grin. "In other words, Wake, try anything funny and it will rain enraged gyarados all over Sinnoh! As someone who trains one such pokemon, I'm sure I don't need to tell you what would happen then!"

Wake clenched his fists tightly. He was boiling in rage now. Gyarados were well known for their destructive rampages. Even in a city where gym leaders were present, civilian casualties would be inevitable before they were able to deal with it. If a gyarados were to land in a town or village with no gym leader, there would be nothing left.

"Now then, we'll be taking our leave." Saturn said. He and the rest of the grunts, save for the three Wake injured, climbed into the helicopter and took off. Wake was completely left in the dust as the helicopter flew northward.

"First the Great Marsh and now Lake Valor... we should have been paying more attention to Team Galactic..." Wake grumbled, then looked back at the group of magikarp. "Guess I need to calm them down somehow and deal with the bomb. Then I can see about filling up this lake again..." He let out a sigh and looked back at the three grunts lying on the ground, groaning in pain.

"At least I'm not leaving emptyhanded."

* * *

Back at Lake Valor...

"Look! It's Team Galactic!" Dawn pointed at the group of grunts on the ground ahead as she and Byron approached the lake. She then noticed a red haired woman among the group. "And one of the commanders is with them..."

"One of the commanders, huh?" Byron smirked. "Skarmory, bring us down near the water. I could easily handle this group myself by the look of things, but instead I'll handle the grunts and you can take on that commander yourself, Dawn!"

"Eh! You sure about that!" Dawn asked in disbelief.

"Well if you can't handle it then I'll just have to finish her too!" Byron grinned and looked back over his shoulder. "You're not worried you can't handle one 'commander', are you?"

"I can handle her just fine. I'm just surprised you're letting me," Dawn replied. Meanwhile, Byron's Skarmory dove down in a quick descent, leveling off his flight path only as he approached the ground. Eggman, still flying out of his pokeball, struggled to keep up as he didn't move as quickly in a dive.

As they drew closer to the lake, Dawn recognized two other figures caught up in the fray. Professor Rowan was near the south entrance, detaining one grunt that he had by the ear. Lucas, meanwhile, was locked in battle with the red haired commander. His piplup was battling a bronzong, and seemed to be losing steam. Most of the grunts seemed to be watching until Byron's Skarmory set down in front of them.

"You boys and girls look bored!" Byron said, grinning and taking a pokeball in each hand. "Why don't you try your luck against a gym leader?" Byron and Dawn jumped off Skarmory's back and it quickly took point in front of them. The grunts were momentarily stunned by Byron's arrival but quickly began to release their own pokemon. "Dawn, you know what to do. Leave these grunts to me!"

"Got it!" Dawn replied. "Eggman, let's go!"

"-Right!-" Eggman nodded quickly. "-He'll handle the flunkies, we'll take out the boss!-" Dawn ran over to where Lucas was fighting Mars, with Eggman following along beside her. She arrived at his side just as Mars's bronzong dealt the finishing blow.

"You seem to have some skill there, boy, but a weak pokemon like that was lucky to even beat my golbat. You didn't stand a chance," Mars said. She frowned when she noticed Dawn's arrival. "What's this? Your girlfriend's come to rescue you?"

"The heck?" Lucas looked over at Dawn and raised an eyebrow. "Where did you come from all of a sudden?"

"Long story," Dawn replied to Lucas before turning to address Mars. "Mars! What did you do with the pokemon of the lake!"

"Ha! So it's you again. I didn't even recognize you at first," Mars said, finally realizing who it was. "The lake pokemon has already been taken away. But I'm surprised you knew that, considering you just got here."

"A pokemon like that would give off a strong aura. If it was still here, I would be able to feel it." Dawn said, then narrowed her eyes at her. "There's probably no point in asking you what Team Galactic is planning, so I guess I'll have to beat up your pokemon instead." Hearing this, Eggman quickly moved forward and Mars's bronzong moved in front of its own trainer to guard her.

_This girl... this is not what she was like at all last time_, Mars thought, grimacing. _Now I understand. All this time we took her for just another trainer, but she was really working for the league. I still don't get that comment about aura, though._

_ Dawn seems... different somehow..._ Lucas thought. After thinking it over for a moment, he took out Pips' pokeball and recalled him. "Dawn... I'll leave this to you, then," Lucas said, then quickly backed away.

"Well, I hope you're not getting any ideas in your head about actually beating me today!" Mars said to Dawn. "I underestimated you last time and you managed to win, but that won't happen again! Bronzong, disable her pokemon with Hypnosis!"

_She says not to expect to win, but I can already feel this battle is not in her favor. I can feel her aura. She's confused, and she's battling cautiously._ A small smile crossed Dawn's lips. _Now that I think about it, this is the first time I've really put my aura sensing ability to work. I wonder if it'll be very useful in battle?_

"Eggman, try throwing it off with a Water Pulse!" Dawn called out. Bronzong's eyes began to swirl, emitting hypnotic, psychic waves in an attempt to put Eggman to sleep. Eggman strained his mind to fight it off while drawing out energy for his own attack. He was able to hold off long enough to fire several ring-shaped blasts of water from his hands. The rings shot out through the air and struck Bronzong, causing light damage but also managing to disrupt its Hypnosis attack.

"You can't expect to beat Bronzong with weak attacks like that, girl," Mars said to Dawn. "Bronzong, new plan! Take her pokemon out quickly with Gyro Ball!" Bronzong began to spin at Mars's command, slowly at first but spinning faster and faster to match its speed to Eggman's.

"Eggman, use Shock Wave!" Dawn called out, focusing only on the battle. Eggman launched a shockwave of electricity that expanded out from his body, eventually hitting Bronzong and sending a jolt through its body. That didn't stop Bronzong from attacking, however. Bronzong spun across the field and smashed into Eggman, knocking him back. It was a hard blow but, with some effort, Eggman was able to get back on his feet.

I can't tell by looking, but that Bronzong is almost defeated. I can feel its aura weakening, Dawn thought. "Eggman, one more hit should do it! Use Shock Wave again!" Eggman let out a loud cry as he let loose with another Shock Wave, sending a blast of electricity in all directions. The electricity passed through Bronzong's body, causing it to drop to the ground. Bronzong was out of the fight.

"-I... I did it! I beat another trainer's pokemon!-" Eggman cheered happily and thrust his hand into the air.

Grumbling to herself, Mars recalled Bronzong and then took out another pokeball. "Well you certainly seem quite a bit stronger than you were back then, but let's see if you can pull off a victory against Purugly this time!" Mars held out the pokeball and released Purugly, a fat feline pokemon with a proud posture. It didn't seem to consider Dawn's pokemon a threat at all.

"Eggman, that's enough for now. Return," Dawn said as she held out a pokeball and recalled Eggman. She then held out another one to call out her next pokemon. "Bowser! Go!" The pokeball opened and released Bowser onto the field. He immediately recogized the trainer and pokemon he was up against.

"-Having a serious case of deja vu here,-" Bowser muttered.

"Purugly, attack that pokemon with Slash!" Mars called out, wasting no time starting the battle.

"Bowser, Shell and Seed!" Dawn called out. Bowser quickly crouched down low to the ground, hiding under his shell as Purugly charged toward him. Purugly lashed out with its claws, raking them across the front of Bowser's shell to little effect. Bowser then peeked his head out from under his shell and spat out several seeds. The seeds exploded against the front of Purugly's body, throwing it back.

"What... what kind of move was that!" Mars demanded angrily, clenching her teeth. Purugly slowly stood up, shaking off the attack, and looked at its trainer with an equally confused expression.

"An attack we came up with to catch our opponents off guard!" Dawn replied. "Now, Bowser, finish it with another Seed Bomb!" Bowser opened his mouth and fired another barrage at Purugly. Purugly shrieked as the seeds hit and exploded on it, then fell onto its side. Just like that, Purugly was down and out.

Damn it! This girl... did she surpass me? Or was she just toying with me back then? Mars wondered, grimacing. "Don't think you've won yet!" she then yelled to Dawn. "We got what we came here for! It will only be a matter of time now... once we've gotten what we need from the lake pokemon, our leader will be ready to create a new universe! So enjoy your victory while you can!" Mars then ran off, quickly disappearing into the line of trees that surrounded the lake.

"A new... universe?" Dawn blinked a few times, then frowned. "If that's their goal, they really ARE crazy..."

"HEY! What are you doing!" Lucas yelled at Dawn, moving next to her again. "You just let her get away!"

"Err..." Dawn blinked and then smiled sheepishly. "Whoops? I didn't even think about trying to catch her..."

"-At least we beat her,-" Bowser said, shrugging. "-So much for that deja vu, though. She wasn't even a challenge this time.-"

"Ah, don't worry about it. We've got more than enough grunts to make up for the leader escaping!" Byron said to them, grinning. His pokemon, Skarmory, Lairon, and Magneton, had easily defeated the pokemon belonging to them. The grunts were all huddling together now, too afraid to move.

"You can take this one as well," Professor Rowan said as he approached the group. He pushed another grunt into the rest of them, this one with a noticably red ear from Rowan dragging him by it. "We came here to study the lake pokemon, but it seems Team Galactic has gone after them and taken them somewhere..."

"Don't worry about that, we know where," Byron said to him. "But you two shouldn't let yourselves get caught up in something like this. It could be dangerous."

"Unfortunately, we were already here when it happened," Professor Rowan said to Byron. He then gave Dawn a curious look. "Dawn... though it hasn't been long since I have last seen you, it seems like you've become a completely different trainer since then..."

"Well... umm... I guess I have in a way?" Dawn replied. "But what now? They've already got the legendary pokemon..."

"About that, it would likely take longer for them to reach Lake Acuity," Rowan said. "They might not have that lake's pokemon yet. However, Barry is out that way as well..."

"I'll get in contact with Candice, the gym leader out that way," Byron said. "I'll have to report this to the league myself and decide what to do from there. Though I can saw with little doubt that we'll be moving in to assault their headquarters directly after that."

"I must say though, it's surprising to see one of my field assistants showing up to fight criminals alongside one of the highest ranked gym leaders," Rowan said, a smirk crossing his lips. "I will be interested in hearing how this came about."

"Dawn will have to explain that to you," Byron said, glancing over at her. "I can't waste anymore time here, given what's happened." Byron took out two pokeballs and recalled his magneton and lairon, then hopped on his Skarmory's back. "Dawn, good job here today. Maybe next time we meet, you'll be taking a badge from me!" Byron flashed her a grin and then tapped Skarmory on the back of its neck. With a flap of its wings, Skarmory took off.

"Well I guess this means my training's done, since it'd be a long trek back to Iron Island now..." Dawn mumbled to herself, watching Byron until he disappeared into the distance.

"Sounds like you've been quite busy, Dawn," Rowan said to her. "I would like you to come with me to the lab first, but given that you seem quite reliable now perhaps it would be a good idea for you to go to Lake Acuity to find Barry."

"Find Barry, huh?" Dawn thought about it for a moment and nodded. "It'd take me a while to get there, but not as long as it'd take Barry to get back..."

"You know, I really could have handled this if I had my old pokemon," Lucas grumbled, suddenly feeling quite a bit of resentment toward Dawn. "Dawn, just how did you..."

"Ah, about that, Lucas..." Professor Rowan said with a smile, cutting Lucas off. "It seems I've recently come across a package addressed to you in my lab. So, shall we be going, then?" The professor turned and started to walk away. Dawn and Lucas shot each other a curious glance, both wondering what the professor had up his sleeve. Shrugging, they both hurried after Rowan to follow him to his lab.

* * *

Author's Notes: A bit late with this one but... uh... hey, it's still Sunday somewhere, right? Like on the eastern U.S coast. Could have been done a lot quicker but I kept leaving things to the last minute. If I didn't have a day off tomorrow I probably would have gone to bed by now and finished it in the morning...

Finally back to the plot now, and staying that way for quite a while to come. Next chapter, Dawn heads north.


	33. Chapter 33: Northbound

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 33**

**Northbound**

After meeting up with Lucas and Professor Rowan, Dawn spent most of the remainder of the day explaining where she had been to them. They were surprised, and more than a little skeptical, to hear that Dawn had been training as an aura guardian and could now sense auras as a result. Professor Rowan also returned Dawn's pokedex to her, now upgraded to include data on pokemon from even other regions.

Now, early morning the next day, she found herself in front of the pokemon center in Celestic Town. Celestic was a fairly old fashioned town steeped in folklore and myths. It was also a town situated near the northern edge of Mt. Coronet and was the closest stop before Snowpoint.

"This is as far as I can take you," Lucas said to Dawn. "I haven't been to Snowpoint yet myself, so you'll have to make the rest of the trip there on your own."

"That's fine. I didn't even expect to get a headstart like this," Dawn said, smiling. "I guess the worst is yet to come, but if nothing else I won't be as far behind Barry. And if he can make it through the worst routes in Sinnoh then so can I!"

"Well, just be careful that your confidence doesn't get you into trouble," Lucas cautioned her.

"By the way, what are you going to do now?" Dawn asked him.

"I'm going to head south from here to Veilstone," Lucas replied, looking off to the south. "The gym leaders will probably be getting ready to attack Team Galactic's headquarters soon. When they do, I'm going to move in as well. There's someone I want to take another shot at..."

"Mars?" Dawn asked. Lucas nodded. "Thought so. You should be able to beat her easily with your new pokemon."

"They're not new!" Lucas shot back. Dawn's comment had reminded him that he only recently had gotten access to his own pokemon and was stuck with a weak piplup up until then. "Anyway, I'm heading out now. You be careful."

"Like I said, I'll be fine. If I can find a quick way back I'll meet up to join the fight but if not..." Dawn shrugged. "Good luck?"

"I'm only going there to fight Mars," Lucas replied. "The gym leaders can handle a group like Team Galactic on their own. And I won't need luck for that." Without another word, Lucas set off, leaving Dawn standing alone in front of the Celestic Town pokecenter.

"Well, with all that being said, I AM ahead of schedule and not in any hurry," Dawn said to herself, then look a quick look around the small town. It was almost shaped like a crater, with a small shrine down in the center. "Maybe I'll check this place out a bit before I-" Dawn stopped, her gaze finally coming to what seemed to be a tomb embedded in the side of the 'crater' wall. Only, in front of the tomb, was a Team Galactic grunt.

"Team Galactic? But what would they be doing in Celestic Town?" Dawn wondered aloud, folding her arms across her chest. She couldn't make out what the grunt was doing, other than standing in front of the tomb. She then let out a sigh. "Well, I guess I can't leave unless I look into this now..."

Dawn headed to the southern end of the town, where a long set of stairs lead down the side of the 'crater' all the way to the bottom. She then started toward the other end of the crater, where the tomb was located, going around the shrine in the middle. As she approached the grunt standing there, she could overhear him talking.

"This town is insignificant! There's nothing of value here," he was grumbling to himself. It doesn't need to exist, so I'll blow it up with a Galactic Bomb!" Sure enough, to back up the grunt's threat, Dawn could see a small object at the grunt's feet that could easily be the bomb he referred to.

"Hey, does that bomb run on a timer or is it triggered remotely?" Dawn asked the grunt, stopping a few feet away.

"Wh-what!" The grunt turned to Dawn and looked shocked by her question. "It-it's timed! Why!"

Dawn shrugged. "No reason... but what you said just now got me thinking..." Dawn flashed a wicked grin. "You're really just an insignificant grunt of no value. You don't need to exist, so I think I'll feed you to my gabite..."

The grunt was taken back by this. "Y-you wouldn't! You're just a brat!"

"Well, why should I care what happens to you?" Dawn asked, smiling and folding her hands behind her back. "You're just another nameless grunt, indistinguishable from the rest. You exist just to slow down the heroine's progress while also being an easy source of exp. You won't be missed. Your death won't even go noticed."

"You... what are you saying!" The grunt was looking very, very afraid now and reached for a pokeball. "W-well I'll just use my pokemon to fight you off!"

"Of course. And you'll take down all six of mine with your lowly two? Two weak pokemon you probably got off a weak trainer? I'm wondering if you see a connection between those two things." Dawn narrowed her eyes at him. "And by the way, I've fought Jupiter once and Mars twice. Won every time. What makes you think you'll fare any better?"

At this point, Dawn could feel the grunt's fear. As one might expect, fear wasn't a very pleasant-feeling aura. "S-screw this! I'm now throwing my life away for this!" the grunt said frantically, then bolted, leaving the bomb behind. With the grunt finally gone, Dawn let out a sigh.

"Well, that let me skip a pointless fight with a weak grunt at least," she mumbled to herself, then looked down at the small, cube-shaped object on the ground. It was about half a foot long on any side. "And he left the bomb behind too... I wonder if I should take it? For safekeeping, of course."

Coughing into her hand, Dawn picked up the device and slid it into her travel bag as discreetly as she could. As mature as she acted at times lately, she was still only eleven. The possibility of seeing an actual bomb go off facinated her, though she'd do it somewhere safe of course.

"Well, anyway, now that I've dealt with him I guess I can check out this place," Dawn said to herself, giving the tomb before her an appraising look.

"Interested in seeing our ancient tomb?" Dawn heard an elderly voice say as an old woman made her way over to her. "I don't know what you did, young lady, but you did quite well scaring off that troublemaker. I would have dealt with him myself if I still had my pokemon."

"It was nothing, really!" Dawn replied, smiling. It really was nothing. Dawn just didn't want to waste her time battling grunts if she could avoid it.

"But frightening such an individual is quite a feat for someone so young!" the elderly lady said, smiling at Dawn. "Come, come! Let me show you around the tomb!" The elderly woman then lead Dawn into the tomb.

The inside of the tomb wasn't nearly as large as Dawn thought it would be. In fact, so far as she could tell, it couldn't possibly have been used for anything. Maybe as some kind of place for a small group of people to worship, but that would have been it. Paintings in the wall certainly seemed to depict the pokemon they would have worshipped. Though it was odd for her to think that upon seeing images of pokemon such as bronzong.

_Bronzong's nothing that special is it?_ she thought when she saw the paintings. _Then again, maybe pokemon like bronzong really did seem like something to revere to these people?_ Also among the images of the bronzong were, of course, images of bronzor, as well as lucario. While she looked over the pictures, it occurred to her that the old woman was leading her to the back of the tomb.

"Hey where are you... oh," Dawn stopped herself mid-sentence when she saw what was up ahead. Unlike the other images, the paintings at the far end of the tomb looked even to Dawn as if they depicted powerful pokemon. Of course, that might have been because one of them looked familiar.

"As you can no doubt tell, this painting is the centerpiece of this tomb," the old lady said to Dawn. The painting depicted three pokemon forming a triangle around... something. The circular object in the center seemed more like it was a stand-in for whatever was actually supposed to be there.

_That pokemon in the bottom left corner... that's definitely the pokemon I met that time at Lake Verity_, Dawn thought. She was now much more interested in what the painting depicted, having made that connection. "So... does it hold any particular meaning?" she asked.

"The painting's meaning seems to be this..." the old lady began. "There once existed beings so powerful they were considered deities at the time. There were also three pokemon with power to match either of these beings. These three pokemon kept balance with the two beings, as if they formed a pyramid. It's an ancient legend told in Celestic Town."

"Hmm..." Dawn thought for a moment, then held up her hand to access her poketch. Though she hadn't used it much since obtaining it, the poketch did have a map of Sinnoh built in. When she looked at this map, Dawn noticed something rather odd.

_Three pokemon, three lakes,_ Dawn thought, narrowing her eyes in contemplation. _Not only that, but the lakes even form a triangle. And if I'm not mistaken, the center of that triangle would be around Mt. Coronet. The top specifically. That's interesting..._

"I see you have a poketch," the old woman said, smiling at Dawn. "No doubt you've now noticed an interesting geographic feature."

"Yeah, it's definitely..." Dawn stopped mid-sentence and suddenly turned around, looking back toward the tomb entrance. _There was no one there. Just now... what was with that bizarre aura? No... a bizarre lack of an aura. As if someone was keeping their aura bottled up inside somehow..._

"Is something wrong, dear?" the old lady asked Dawn.

"No..." Dawn shook her head and smiled reassuringly. "It's nothing I guess. Thanks for telling me about the legends, though. I have a feeling this will be useful information."

"You're quite welcome, dear." The old woman smiled at her. "By the way, are you familiar with Cynthia?"

Dawn stared at the old woman incredulously. "Of course! Who isn't!" she said. "I've even met her a few times!"

"Is that so?" The old woman chuckled. "Well, the reason I asked is because Cynthia is my granddaughter."

Dawn fell silent for a moment after hearing this before yelling a surprised, "WHAT!"

* * *

Meanwhile, outside the ruins, a certain blue-haired man was making his way out of the city.

_This last piece of information confirms it. With the power of the pokemon of the lakes, I will be able to disrupt the balance between time and space and destroy this world,_ he thought to himself. _By now, those three pokemon should already be detained. My plan now reaches its final phase._

As he walked away from the tomb, he stopped for a moment and looked back. _That girl was there again,_ he thought. _Somehow it seems she may have noticed my presence as well. It is clear to me now that her appearances cannot be a coincidence. No matter. There is no longer any time left for her to interfere._

Shaking his head, he then continued on his way and left the town.

* * *

Dawn didn't stay in Celestic Town long after dealing with the grunt and seeing the ancient paintings. Though she was surprised to run into Cynthia's grandmother like that, Dawn didn't have much to say to her. So she soon left Celestic Town and headed east, toward Mt. Coronet. Dawn was quite sure now that there was something interesting at the top of Mt. Coronet, but she wasn't going anywhere near there. Rather, she took a quick detour through the mountain before heading north.

North of Mt. Coronet was where the 'fun' part of Dawn's journey would begin. The entire stretch of land from the northern exit of Mt. Coronet to the far tip of the Sinnoh region was cold and snow covered. And that was in the better spots. In some areas there were near-constant blizzards and loose snow piled anywhere from knee-high to waist-high. Close to an hour after leaving Celestic Town, Dawn reached that blizzard-stricken route.

_It's a good thing I stopped at that rest house to get changed_, Dawn thought. She was now wearing the jacket she had worn all around Sinnoh as well as a pair of black wind pants she had brought along just for this stretch. She had only just entered the area but already she was walking through ankle-deep snow. Strong, cold winds blew in her face but there wasn't much in the line of snow. Not yet, at least.

That wasn't a comfort she had for long, though. The snow grew deeper as she walked through route 217, eventually reaching her knees in even the shallowest of places. The blizzard became more fierce as well, seemingly coinciding with the depth of the snow. A fact that seemed to make sense to Dawn as if not for the blizzard the snow would get packed down over time.

_This is pretty bad, but I think I'm already in the worst of it_, Dawn thought while trudging through the snow. Grimacing, she thought of just how far she had to go._ I'll be at this for hours though... how did Barry manage to get through this?_

Just when Dawn thought she had seen the worst, though, she heard a voice ahead of her. "I can tell you're already distressed by this snow, but I'm afraid things are about to get even worse for you," a familiar voice said. Dawn could scarcely hear her over the howling blizzard, but she recognized who it was.

"D-dusk!" Dawn yelled in shock. She peered through the snow, trying to see her opponent. "You... you're not seriously going to attack me NOW, are you!"

"Normally, I wouldn't," Dusk replied, sounding rather irritated. "However, it seems the threat to Sinnoh has became even greater recently. Since you were heading this way anyway, I thought I would wait. You've grown stronger recently but even if you could match me now, you won't be able to in a place like this."

"Why do you say that?" Dawn asked her.

"Simple," Dusk stretched out her arm to gesture to the frozen wasteland surrounding them. "Take a look around. In this kind of terrain, many pokemon would be at a disadvantage. Blinding blizzard, loose snow that makes it hard to get proper footing. In a place like this, only an ice-type pokemon can truly battle."

"I don't buy that for one second!" Dawn shot back, hand reaching for one of her pokeballs. She flinched when she touched it. Walking in the coldest part of the region for so long had left her pokeballs rather cold to touch. Bracing herself, she gripped it firmly in her hand and held it out. "I bet I could still battle if I use this one! Bahamut, go!" The pokeball then opened, releasing the dragon pokemon Bahamut.

Dusk was stunned for a moment by Dawn's choice of pokemon. Shaking her head in disbelief, she said, "Just what kind of logic are you running on, here? Do you even realize what pokemon I'm likely to use?"

"A... ghost?" Dawn replied, blinking.

"Next time you go out training you should work on that brain of your's instead!" Dusk grumbled. Stretching her arm out again, she focused briefly and a dark, purple vortex opened in the wintry air. From that vortex, a white ghost-type pokemon emerged. "In a place like this, Freezer is the obvious choice to battle you with."

"Freezer?" Dawn blinked and thought back for a moment. Her expression slowly began to turn to a frown. "Oh... right... that pokemon. Hard to hit in snow. Super-accurate Blizzard attack in snow."

"-Bah! It will take more then a little cold and snow to take me down!-" Bahamut growled. "-You may think that since I'm a dragon-type, my blood runs cold! But let me tell you, that's nothing but lies!-" Bahamut growled and raised his head to yell to the heavens. "-**WITH MY BURNING SPIRIT, MY BLOOD BOILS ENDLESSLY! THIS COLD IS NO MATCH FOR THE FIRE THAT**-"

"Freezer, Blizzard." Dusk's froslass gestured toward Bahamut with one of her hands, taking control over the blizzard and intensifying it. Bahamut was repeatedly blasted by cold air, snow, and ice until it had formed over his body in a thin layer. Before long, he was frozen into an ice statue.

"Well that was anti-climatic..." Dawn muttered and let out a sigh. "I wonder if Jax would have done any better in this weather?"

"Just face it, Dawn, without an ice-type pokemon you can't hope to beat my Freezer in this weather," Dusk said to her. "Now just hand-" Dusk stopped midsentence when another pokemon suddenly arrived on the scene, bursting out of the snow in front of Dawn and Bahamut.

"-Okay, Bahamut, this time I'll...-" the small pokemon, an eevee, looked back at the frozen dragon-type pokemon and was shocked. "-Wh-what! You've been defeated already!-"

Dawn blinked in confusion at the new arrival. "Huh? It's that eevee again." Looking at the eevee, she noticed the snow the eevee had dug through had caused some of the dirt usually caked onto its body to come off. As a result, Dawn could see the true color of the eevee's fur in some places. "HUH! Is that... are you the silver eevee from the pokemon mansion?"

Dusk raised an eyebrow. "Silver eevee? Gee, don't you just have all the luck! I suppose it's going to side with you and evolve into an ice-type pokemon, too?"

"Umm..." Dawn looked at the wild eevee curiously. It nodded to her in return. "Guess I am!" Dawn grinned at Dusk. "If that's the way it's turned out, there's no use complaining about it!" she said. The eevee nodded and moved into a fighting stance. Dawn then took out a pokeball to recall Bahamut, but unfortunately for her Dusk was ready to use that opportunity to attack.

"Well in that case, we'll attack before anything else weird happens!" Dusk nodded to Freezer. The ghost pokemon held out its hand toward eevee, summoning another blizzard attack. Snow and ice swirled in the air and buffeted, slowly freezing the eevee over. By the time the attack itself had finished, the eevee was in the same condition as Bahamut.

"That eevee's not much of a hero afterall I guess?" Dawn said while scratching the back of her head. Just when she was wondering what to do about the eevee, though, the ice around it cracked and finally shattered. The eevee was still conscious, but noticeably weakened by the powerful attack.

"Still conscious I see," Dusk said. "But not for much longer. Freezer, use Blizzard again."

_Am I going to get ANY chance to fight back?_ Dawn wondered as Freezer moved to attack again. She was about to call out an attack for the eevee, hoping to find some way around Freezer's blizzard, but felt a strange aura coming from it. She caught a brief glimpse of a white glow before the eevee was surrounded by a blast of snow and ice.

"And that ends this," Dusk said with a confident smirk. To her surprise, though, eevee was still standing after the blizzard attack subsided. Or rather, a similarly shaped pokemon was standing there. The pokemon standing in the eevee's place was noticeably larger and had light blue, almost white fur. As Dusk had predicted, the eevee had evolved into its ice-type form, Glaceon.

"Oh you have GOT to be kidding me!" Dusk growled, clenching a fist. "What! Did throwing so much ice and snow at it cause it to evolve!"

"I can't tell if my luck is good or bad today," Dawn said, blinking in disbelief. "Well, I guess we should try fighting back then! Attack her froslass with... uh..." Dawn paused for a moment, considering her options. "C-come to think of it... I have no idea what attacks you even know..."

"-I'm not even sure what I can do in this form, now that you mention it,-" the glaceon said, blinking. "-I probably have some kind of ice-type attacks or something but I'm clueless. And I don't think I can hide my skin color with dirt anymore, either...-"

"Then it's still our win, though this is getting annoying!" Dusk said bitterly. "Freezer, end this now! Shadow Ball!" Freezer nodded and cupped her hands together, forming a ball of shadowstuff between them. She then flung the ball at the glaceon, hitting him head on. The glaceon stumbled back, then fell onto her side in the snow.

"And even evolved, it lost." Dawn sighed. "I'm going to need more coincidences I think."

"If anything else like that happens, I'm going to start hurting things," Dusk grumbled, then held out her hand to Dawn. "Now, before anything like that happens, hand over that bomb. Something like that is far too dangerous to be in your hands."

"Hey! I can still..." Dawn blinked. "Wait, what? THAT'S what you're after?"

"Yes," Dusk replied. "Someone like you can't be trusted with a device capable of mass destruction. I don't care how much more mature you've gotten since leaving Twinleaf, there's no way I'm going to stand by idly while you wander the region with a bomb in your travel bag."

Dawn sighed. "Well if you're going to be like that about it..." Opening her travel bag, Dawn took out the Galactic Bomb and tossed it to Dusk. Dusk dove to catch it, not wanting to take any risks.

"DON'T BE SO CARELESS WITH THIS!" Dusk scolded her. "We don't have any idea how this bomb even works! It's not a toy!"

"Killjoy," Dawn muttered under her breath. "But that's seriously it? No 'go home now or else!'?"

"That's it," Dusk assured her. "However, I will say this: don't go anywhere near the top of Mt. Coronet." Thinking for a moment, she added, "Also, if you see a blue haired woman wearing a brown trenchcoat, avoid her. She may be involved in this it seems, though I have yet to confirm it."

_I haven't even seen anyone like that_, Dawn thought. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Good." Dusk then turned and opened a vortex. "Well, I'll probably show up if she's in the same area as you. So until then, see-"

"WAIT!" Dawn called out before she could enter the vortex. Dusk turned and raised an eyebrow at her. "One question... you keep saying you're dead, right? But I can sense your aura. You're definitely not dead."

"I never said I was dead," Dusk replied with a slight smirk.

"Huh?" Dawn blinked in confusion. "But you keep saying things like, 'a naive young girl died that day'. That's supposed to be you, isn't it?"

"It was," Dusk replied, turning to enter the vortex again. "From a certain point of view." Before Dawn could say another word, Dusk disappeared into the vortex. Freezer soon followed behind her, after which the vortex closed.

"And here I thought we were done with those jokes..." Dawn sighed and then looked down at the unconscious glaceon. "Well, guess I should do something about this one now," she said, reaching into her travel bag and taking out a pokeball. "Not that I don't already know what I'm going to do with it."

* * *

After dealing with Dusk and capturing the wild eevee, now a glaceon, Dawn continued on her way north. The blizzard conditions never got any better while she travelled through route 117. Progress was slow, and she had quite the distance to cross. Fortunately, by the time she was nearing the end of the route, the blizzard was starting to let up. The wind was slowing and the snow getting shallower until, finally, she reached the end of the route and came to a steep hill. It was now the only thing blocking her from getting to Lake Acuity.

_This could be a problem_, Dawn thought as she looked up at the hill. _Though you wouldn't think something as minor as a steep hill would keep me from getting up to the lake_. Looking around, she spotted a trail of rocks jutting out from the hill from bottom to top. The rocks looked to Dawn as if they could easily be used as hand and footholds.

"Nevermind. Looks like I found a convenient solution," she said to herself.

Using the rocks, Dawn was able to climb up to the top of the hill in only a few minutes. It was only a short walk from the top of that hill to the lakeshore. At the lake, however, Dawn was in for a surprise.

"There... there's no one here!" she yelled. Lake Acuity was empty. No sign of Barry, Team Galactic, and she couldn't feel the aura of any legendary pokemon nearby either. "YOU MEAN I CAME ALL THIS WAY FOR NOTHING!" she yelled to the empty lake. The silence of the near-frozen Lake Acuity was the only answer she received.

* * *

Author's Notes: Seems Dawn was a bit too late getting to Lake Acuity, but where's Barry?

This chapter feels like it turned out a bit more comedic than usual. Somehow the fact that Dawn had managed to get a bomb into her possession ended up being played for laughs. But I suppose there's worse characters to give a bomb to. I know I can think of one...


	34. Chapter 34: The Assault Begins

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 34**

**The Assault Begins**

Having travelled through some of the harshest terrain in Sinnoh, Dawn came upon a shocking discovery at the end of her journey. She was already too late. The legendary pokemon at Lake Acuity was already gone, and Barry was nowhere to be found. Assuming the worst, Dawn headed to nearby Snowpoint to unwind at the pokemon center and hopefully get some answers.

"Your pokemon have been fully healed," the pokemon center nurse said as she handed Dawn's pokeballs back to her. She then bowed and smiled. "We hope you continue to excel!"

"Thanks," Dawn replied. "By the way, did a blonde-haired kid about my age come through here? His name's Barry if that's any help."

"Barry?" The nurse hummed thoughtfully. "I think I overheard that name mentioned by our gym the other day while she was with a blonde-haired boy... could that be him maybe?"

_Come to think of it, the gym leader here would have been the first one on the scene_, Dawn thought, then nodded to her. "That's probably who I'm looking for, is he still around?"

The nurse shook her head. "I wouldn't know. You could try asking the gym leader, if she hasn't left yet."

"Okay then. Thanks for your help," Dawn replied, then turned and left the pokemon center. Thanks to the nurse, she knew exactly who she had to see now, and immediately sought out Snowpoint's gym. Given the relatively underdeveloped state of Snowpoint, it wasn't hard for her to find it. Arriving at the gym, she opened the door and stepped inside.

"Hello?" Dawn called out to the empty gym. There was no one immediately inside, even though the front door wasn't locked. The inside of the gym was barely any warmer than the outside, Dawn noticed, and housed an indoor rink for a battlefield.

"An ice-type gym in the coldest area of Sinnoh." Dawn sighed. "How cliche can you get?"

"I WON'T STAND FOR THAT KIND OF COMMENT!" Dawn heard someone yelling from the other side of the gym. A girl wearing a sweater around her waist suddenly burst out of the door at the rear of the gym and jumped clear over the strip of floor between it and the icy battlefield. The girl slid across the battlefield, coming to a stop in front of Dawn and pointing a finger at her.

"I don't care if you call me weak, hotheaded, or even flamebait! But I won't stand by while you call me cliche!" the girl said angrily.

Dawn held her hands up in defense. "O-okay! You're definitely not cliched!" she said to the girl. "You're the gym leader, right?"

"That's right!" the girl replied with a grin, calming down now that Dawn had taken back her remark. "I'm Candice, gym leader of Snowpoint City. If you're looking for a match, it'll have to wait. I'm getting ready to leave on important gym leader business."

"Actually I just wanted to ask you something," Dawn said, lowering her hands. "Did you run into a boy named Barry by any chance?"

"Ah, Barry? That's the kid I ran into at Lake Acuity," Candice replied, nodding affirmatively. "I got there after his pokemon had been defeated by Team Galactic. He took that pretty badly, I think..."

_That doesn't surprise me very much_, Dawn thought. _But it looks like Team Galactic has managed to get the three lake pokemon. What could they be planning?_

"Anyway, unless there's something else you needed, I have to finish getting ready and head down to Veilstone," Candice said, then looked at Dawn expectantly.

"Oh, for the attack on the Galactic building there, right?" Dawn asked.

"That's... eh?" Candice blinked. "How did you know about that? This is supposed to be kept secret so we'll have the element of surprise when we attack."

"I'm kinda involved, you could say," Dawn said, smiling sheepishly. "Even so, they'll probably be expecting an attack eventually. So they would have prepared something by now."

Candice nodded and folded her arms. "True enough. Makes no difference to me, anyway. To our knowledge, they only have a few notably strong trainers while the grunts we'll likely be able to just brush aside anwyay." She shrugged. "So you're involved in this somehow? Are you Dawn by any chance?"

Dawn nodded. "That's right."

"Thought so. Byron mentioned you," Candice said. "If you want to get involved in this, we won't stop you. Do you have a way to get to Veilstone?"

"Actually, no, I guess that's what I was going to ask next actually," Dawn said, smiling sheepishly. "So how are you getting there?"

Candice grinned. "Glad you asked! As it happens, the most direct route from here to Veilstone City is not to go by land or air, but by sea! And if you're going anywhere from Snowpoint by sea..." Candice suddenly pointed a finger at Dawn. "Then the S.S. Spiral is the only way to travel!"

_Well that seems like an odd name for a ship, but she seems pretty fired up about it_, Dawn thought.

"Just give me a few minutes to finish getting my things together and we can both go to Veilstone on the Spiral!" Candice said, then turned to run to the back office. This ended in her tripping and falling flat on her face, forgetting that she was standing on ice.

"Meant to do that..." Candice mumbled as she slowly, carefully stood up and then made her way across the ice.

_I wonder if the two of us will really be okay like this?_ Dawn thought nervously.

* * *

After Candice had finished locking up her gym and gathering a few things she needed, the two girls left and went to the port at the southern end of the city. There, they boarded one of the strangest ships Dawn had ever seen outside a video game. It was a catamaran design, painted red, and had a drill on each hull.

"THIS is the ship we're taking!" Dawn asked in disbelief.

"Hey, if you want to get anywhere from here, you need some way of breaking through the ice!" Candice said with a wide grin on her face. "Now come on! We don't want to keep everyone else waiting!" Candice boarded the ship with Dawn hesitantly following behind. They went straight to the bridge, where the ship's crew were awaiting and saluting Candice as she entered.

"At ease, boys and girls, we want to make this trip quick today," Candice said to them. The crew immediately took to their posts and the ship started to move, slowly at first until it reached open water. "What's the status of the ocean today?"

"There's a lot of ice out there, too many to count!" a female crew member replied.

"Hmm..." Candice furrowed her brow and scanned the horizon. "So, every glint of light out there is our enemy, huh?" Candice grinned and the rest of the crew looked at her, waiting for the words that would follow.

"S.S. SPIRAL! SPIN ON! OUR'S ARE THE DRILLS THAT WILL PIERCE THE ICE FLOE!"

"AYE AYE, MISS!" With a loud whirring noise the ship's twin drills began to spin and the ship lurched forward at full speed, barrelling straight toward the first ice berg in their path.

_Are... are we really going to get to Veilstone in one piece like this?_ Dawn wondered, suddenly fearing for her life.

* * *

As it turned out, Dawn was worrying for nothing. The S.S. Spiral was very effective at what it was designed to do, drilling straight through ice floes. Dawn still couldn't help but think the name and design of the ship were suspicious, though. But, in spite of her worries, the ship rapidly crossed the waters and soon arrived at the northern end of the city of Veilstone. By then, Dawn was all too eager to disembark.

"Never riding that ship again..." Dawn mumbled to herself. Her legs were wobbling as she made her way down the ramp to the wooden dock. In contrast to Dawn's shaken state, Candice emerged onto the deck of the ship with a huge grin on her face.

"That was fun! I should do that more often!" Candice said. She didn't bother following behind Dawn and instead just jumped straight from the deck to the dock, where the rest of the gym leaders were waiting.

"About time you got here, and I see you brought a guest," Byron said to Candice. Glancing over at Dawn as she finally reached the bottom of the ramp, he added, "That gives us a full eight anyway. We couldn't reach Volkner."

"So we're going in without the strongest gym leader?" Candice asked, then shrugged. "Oh well. In a case like this it probably won't make any difference. You're okay with Dawn joining us, then?"

"Dawn joining us is fine by me," Byron said, nodding. Roark, who was standing behind him, didn't look quite as convinced though. He still remembered his match against Dawn, the only gym leader to actually battle her. Though it was close, he wasn't convinced she should be involved in an operation like this.

_I guess I gained his approval after beating Mars_, Dawn thought, remembering that Byron himself wasn't too eager to take Dawn into battle against Team Galactic previously. Chancing a look around, Dawn wondered where Lucas might be, knowing he was also planning to attack today.

"Well, now that everyone's here..." Byron turned to the side so he could address everyone, tossing his cloak behind him. "Listen up! We're about to move into unknown enemy territory, so we all need to be on guard for this coming mission. All we do know about the Galactic Building is that there are two entrances. The front entrance, and a rear warehouse entrance."

"Both entrances are guarded, but only by a handful of grunts," Maylene said.

"Right. The ones we want to deal with are definitely further inside, so we'll be splitting up into two groups," Byron said. "We'd already discussed the groups before, but we were assuming we would have Volkner. So here's the new groups." Byron looked around at the trainers gathered and then proceded to call out their names.

"The front attack group will consist of myself, Wake, Maylene, and Dawn. The warehouse attack group will consist of Candice, Roark, Gardenia, and Fantina. Any questions?" Byron looked around at the group expectantly, but no one brought up any issues. "Alright then, let's begin right away!"

_They certainly move quickly_, Dawn thought as the gym leaders all got into position. She walked up to Byron and was joined by Maylene and Wake.

"Okay you three, listen up," Byron began once they were assembled. "The grunts are just small fry. Don't waste too much energy fighting them if you can avoid it. The ones we want to deal with are the commanders, and especially the leader Cyrus himself. Above all else, stay together. There's safety in numbers."

"Heh! You don't have to tell me that!" Wake said, grinning.

"It was more for the benefit of the two young girls here," Byron said. Maylene and Dawn both shot him a glare, but he ignored them. "The other team is already on the move, so let's get going already."

With the warehouse assault team already on the move, the frontal assault team finally moved out as well. As they walked, Dawn couldn't help but wonder if having so many gym leaders attack at once wouldn't be overkill. Especially since she was there as well.

* * *

The warehouse team was the first team to arrive at one of the building entrances, with the frontal team having to move all the way around the building. Outside the warehouse they encountered a pair of grunts on guard duty, neither grunts that Dawn would recognize from her previous encounter there. With the two grunts dealt with, the gym leaders moved into the building.

The inside of the warehouse was left surprisingly unguarded and there was very little actually stored there. The four gym leaders, Roark, Gardenia, Fantina, and Candice, examined their surroundings carefully. Finding little of interest in the warehouse itself, Gardenia crossed the warehouse floor to examine a door at the other side. To her dismay, it was locked and required a keycard.

"Looks like a dead end. This door isn't going to budge at all," Gardenia said to the other gym leaders. "We'll have to find another way to..."

"Gardenia, could you please stand aside?"

"Why? What are you planning to do?" Gardenia asked, looking back over her shoulder. When she saw what was coming toward her she quickly moved out of the way while a ramparados charged straight into the door, head first. The door might as well have been made out of paper as the ramparados charged through with barely a pause and stopped after smashing through it.

"We're gym leaders. Something as minor as a door shouldn't stop us," Roark said sternly. He walked up to the remains of the door and stopped to glance at Gardenia. "If you're going to give up so easily, just go back to Eterna and tend your garden."

"What the hell Roark! What's gotten into you!" Gardenia yelled, but Roark paid no attention to her and walked through the broken door. Candice and Fantina walked up to the door and stopped next to Gardenia.

"I wonder if he's upset about Byron's choice in groups?" Candice suggested. "Byron's his father afterall. So maybe he sees it as Byron choosing Dawn over him."

"Even so, fighting amongst ourselves won't solve anything, mon amis," Fantina said with a disappointed look on her face. "He should keep his personal concerns in check until we have completed the mission, otherwise he becomes a hazard."

Candice shrugged. "Maybe Byron was hoping to avoid that somehow by placing Roark on a different team? I did read the briefing, afterall, and even the original teams with Volkner had them separated."

"I don't think Byron considered team placements very carefully at all!" Gardenia interjected. She pointed a finger toward Fantina. "He put me on the same team as her! HER! He knows how I feel about ghost pokemon!"

"We must put our own fears and concerns aside for now and work as a team, regardless of whom we may be working with," Fantina said, then flashed Gardenia a smile. "And surely you are not so afraid of ghost pokemon for it to hinder your performance, demoiselle?"

"Definitely not!" Gardenia shot back. "A-anyway! Roark's getting away while we sit here talking!"

"Right! Let's get moving already!" Candice said. The three of them then stepped through the door and into a short corridor beyond. A lone computer stood nearby, a shard of steel from the door now embedded in the screen. Roark and Ramparados, however, were nowhere in sight. They had already moved while the girls were talking.

"Geez! That guy didn't wait at all!" Gardenia grumbled.

"There's only one place he could have gone at least," Candice said, pointing to the stairs at the end of the corridor. "Let's go."

The girls then proceded down the corridor, only to suddenly vanish into thin air before reaching the stairs...

* * *

Meanwhile, at the main entrance, Dawn and the gym leaders were just finishing up with the grunts stationed inside. A dustox was the last pokemon to go down, knocked into the side wall by an Iron Tail from Byron's Aggron. The dustox's owner looked at his downed Dustox in shock, then nervously looked back to the pink haired girl now approaching him.

"Explain yourself," the girl hissed. She reached down and grabbed him by the collar of his uniform and dragged him up so he was at eye level with her. "**Now.**"

"W-well it's just... you told me to get a job and they were hiring!" the man squeaked nervously, more afraid of his daughter than any father should be. Especially since she was barely any older than Dawn. Dawn, Byron, and Wake stood back and silently watched the exchange while also keeping an eye on the other four grunts in the room.

"And you went and joined a group like Team Galactic! Just what the hell were you even thinking!" Maylene growled. She reared back to punch him, but another hand grabbed her's.

"Maylene, isn't that far enough?" Wake said to her. "He couldn't have known." Maylene was silent for a moment, then slowly let her father go and stood up straight.

"Fine. I'll let it go for now," she mumbled.

"Then I guess we're finished here," Byron said, then turned to Dawn. "Dawn, how about finding something to bind these guys with? The rest of us will keep going for now. I doubt they'd give you any trouble now so you should be fine to do that much and then catch up to us when you're done."

"Alright," Dawn replied with a nod. She couldn't help thinking it seemed like just a convenient way to separate her from the gym leaders, though. While Byron, Wake, and Maylene continued on toward a door in the back. It was usually locked, but they managed to swipe a key from one of the grunts.

Dawn wasn't paying attention when the gym leaders went through the door, but turned around when she heard a strange noise. All of a sudden, the three gym leaders were nowhere in sight. "That's odd," she mumbled in confusion. "Where did they go all of a sudden?"

"It was... a trap..." she heard the grunt nearest to her, Maylene's father, mutter.

"What was that?"

"It was a trap!" he yelled, sounding frustrated now. "They set traps for the gym leaders! They said no harm would come to them so I should just let my daughter fall for them so I did!"

"Right..." Dawn narrowed her eyes at him. "You realize whoever told you that was probably lying, right? I'd be surprised if they didn't end up in some kind of death trap. Or a garbage incinerator. Ever think of that? Ever think they might just send the gym leaders straight to their deaths with a trap like that?"

"I... I..." the man looked like he was on the verge of tears now. "What have I done..."

"Well, nevermind these guys now," Dawn said, taking a pokeball in her hand and approaching the door. After careful inspection, she noticed the floor tile directly past the door looked suspicious. "I'll have to go in myself and fix this. I just hope whoever planned this is the type who would prefer the easily-escapable death trap variety. And leaves empty cardboard boxes lying around."

* * *

Meanwhile, contrary to what Dawn had said would have happened to the gym leaders, they were still fine. However...

"What!" Wake, Byron, and Maylene yelled in shock when they suddenly found themselves somewhere else. Gone was the corridor past the doorway they had just entered and now they were, instead, in what seemed like a large hangar. It was a big, empty room with a sliding door on the other side of the room that was just as wide and tall as the room. The three were almost immediately aware that they weren't alone in there as well.

"Well, glad you could join us," Candice said, though her tone suggested she wasn't at all happy about their situation. Gardenia, Fantina, and Roark were there with her as well. "So they got you three, too, but not Dawn?"

"I told her to stay behind to round up the grunts. There must have been some kind of warp just past that door," Byron grumbled and clenched his fists tightly. "Damn! We should have been prepared for something like this but we didn't even consider checking for traps!"

"If I am not mistaken, did we not assume these traps would be... more obvious?" Fantina asked. "But regardless, this is an amusing trap, non? They transport us here, for what?"

"I'm so glad you asked that."

Everyone's attention was now directed toward the center of the room, where a large TV monitor and speakers suddenly swung down from the ceiling. The monitor turned on and the face of a man with gray hair and red-tinted glasses appeared on the screen.

"Normally, you all would be dead now. Afterall, we do want you gym leaders out of the way," the old man's voice said through the loudspeakers. "However I, Charon, personally requested that you gym leaders be sent here. You see, I have a little project I would like your help in testing..."

"Forget it! We're not helping you test anything!" Roark yelled at him. Charon chuckled.

"You talk as if you're being given a choice in the matter. As it is, you're all stuck here. If you want to try to leave, you will first have to defeat my creation. And then you will be allowed to leave in one piece. Maybe."

"If that's all it is, then bring it out!" Candice said, grinning. "Whatever it is, we'll crush it!"

"So impatient. Very well, allow me to show you what's behind door number one." The large door at the other end of the hangar began to slowly raise. The gym leaders heard the thing behind the door first as it began to move forward, heavy footfalls echoing throughout the hangar. By the time the door was fully open, the thing was already moving under it.

Charon's creation was what appeared to be a giant crab tank. It stood almost ten meters in height and walked on eight tall, thick legs. They definitely didn't look like they'd break easily and having so many legs meant it was quite stable for a walker, able to keep moving even if it lost a few. The main body itself was about as wide as the tank was tall and had a pair of large, metal pincers mounted on the front of it.

"Meet X-ATM092, prototype anti-pokemon combat tank," Charon said, a wicked grin crossing his face as the seven gym leaders looked on in shock. "Feel free to have your pokemon attack full force. It will be interesting to see if they can actually damage it!"

"A giant robot tank..." Byron muttered. "Didn't expect to go up against this..."

* * *

Meanwhile, back on the upper levels...

"Seems everything is in order now," Mars said to herself, walking through one of the corridors in the building with her hands folded behind her back. "Cyrus is in that meeting now with most of the grunts... so once that's over, we'll be ready to go. Now that those gym leaders are out of the way, no one can..."

"Before you finish that sentence, try turning around." Hearing a voice behind her, Mars quickly turned around but laughed when she saw who was behind her.

"You! You think you can stop us!" Mars said when she saw Lucas. Standing next to him was his piplup, still completely unchanged. A grin spread across Mars's lips. "I don't know how you got in but, incase you forgot, I pounded your pathetic pokemon into the ground last time!"

"That was last time," Lucas replied, narrowing his eyes at her. "Round two starts now."

* * *

Author's Notes: This chapter was pretty much just to kick off the assault on the Team Galactic headquarters. Next chapter will continue and/or finish off that assault.

I swear I'm not making up the stuff about that ship by the way. It's red, has two drills, and is called the "S.S. Spiral". But here's the real kicker, to me at least. If you look at the S.S. Spiral in D/P (which I believe came out before 'that' series), it's just an ordinary ship. Not red, no drills. Then it gained drills and a new coat of paint. That had to have been intentional... had to have been...


	35. Chapter 35: The Big Galactic Battle

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 35**

**The Big Galactic Battle**

"Hey, were those boxes always there?"

"Of course they were! Even if you didn't notice them before, boxes don't just move on their own!"

"Will you two shut up! Cyrus is about to speak!"

In a large open room in the Team Galactic HQ, just about every grunt remaining in the organization had gathered. Though there were no seats or tables, the room obviously served as a meeting area. There was a tall platform at the front of the room, upon which a blue haired man in a Galactic uniform stood, ready to make a speech. A pair of cardboard boxes sat off to the side of all this. Unbeknownst to the grunts, one of those boxes contained Dawn.

_What does it say that this video game logic works so well?_ Dawn wondered. _Oh, right. Team Galactic are idiots. I just wish I could see from inside this box..._

As Cyrus, leader of Team Galactic, finally took the mic, the grunts gave a loud cheer but fell silent as he prepared to speak. "Fellow members of Team Galactic! Hear me!" Cyrus bellowed. "My name, as I appear to you today, is Cyrus. This world of our's is a crude one. In a word, it is incomplete. It has been, and always will be, a struggle to survive in this world."

_Wait, what's he going on about?_ Dawn wondered, Cyrus's speech already losing her.

"We humans and pokemon are likewise incomplete," he continued. "Because we are all so lacking, we fight, we maim..." Cyrus's voice lowered. "It is ugly."

_Well what does he expect? Some zen-like awakening and we rise to a higher existance or something?_ Dawn rolled her eyes. _This guy... just what's his problem? Come to think of it... I'm sensing that weird non-aura again... could that be him? Could he have been the one at Celestic Town? _Dawn was really wishing her box had eye holes now, but she knew someone might see her then.

"I hate the incompleteness. That we are all incomplete, I hate it with my entire body and being. The world should be complete. The world must change." Cyrus was briefly interrupted as the grunts cheered again. He motioned for silence, then continued. "Then, who will change it?"

_Does he think he can change it with the lake pokemon somehow?_ Dawn wondered. _Or does it have something to do with the pokemon they keep in balance? I know he's definitely going to say he will change it though._

"Me, Cyrus. And Team Galactic. Yes, all of you," Cyrus said, confirming Dawn's suspicions. "Together we pored over myths and exposed their secrets. Together we captured legendary pokemon. And now, Team Galactic has obtained the energy to change the world! The power of dreams is in our grasp!"

_Yeah, in your dreams!_ Dawn thought, frowning. _I think what really annoys me is how passionate his speech is and yet how empty his soul is. How can he do that? Maintain such a facade while keeping everything bottled up inside him? That's why he doesn't give off an aura! It's like he's dead inside! How can someone so dead give a speech like that!_

"Understand it, fellow members! My long-held dreamworld is on the verge of becoming a reality," Cyrus said, his speech finally coming to a close. "All those headed to Mt. Coronet, and those who remain here... Though our missions differ, our hearts beat as one! Let there be glory for Team Galactic!" The grunts erupted into loud cheering and applauding now, praising Cyrus. After a moment of this, Cyrus left the stand and disappeared into a door in the rear.

That settles it! I'm definitely taking this guy on! Dawn thought. She was eager to go after him now, but knew there was an amy of grunts in the room. Weak though they might be, she wasn't confident she could take on so many at once.

Fortunately, while Dawn couldn't actually see out of her box, she could still feel the auras of the grunts in the room. They were fairly slow to depart but after a minute or so they started to leave. By the time Dawn was finally taking the box off, the room had been cleared out entirely.

"You know, I think the only thing weirder than that working..." Dawn gave the other box next to her's a good kick. "Is that someone else had the same idea!"

"AHA! So you have caught me again!" Dawn held back a groan when she heard the voice, immediately recognizing it. The box was cast aside as Looker stood up, grinning. "But! To see you here, it is quite a surprise! Do you not think it is a bit too dangerous for someone such as yourself to be wandering around here?"

"Looker, I'm going to be blunt. I probably have a better chance at getting through here in one piece than you do," Dawn said, folding her arms. "I mean, how many pokemon do you even have? Do you think you could take on the grunts with your pokemon? I know I can. And have. Repeatedly. They're pushovers."

"Ah, I suppose that would be my one weakpoint..." Looker said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "It seems you have not only a knack for disguising yourself not unlike my own but stronger pokemon. Furthermore, you did disrupt their operations at the Valley Windworks..."

"Right, well, unless you have any objections, I'm going after Team Galactic's glorious leader there," Dawn jabbed her thumb back in the direction of the speaker's platform. "Well? Any issues?"

Looker shook his head. "No, do whatever it is you are going to be doing. I shall continue to investigate Team Galactic, as it seems there may be another person of interest here. So for now, let us part ways!"

"Couldn't agree more!" Dawn replied. With that, Dawn and Looker left the meeting room, each heading in a different direction.

* * *

Down in the underground hangar, the gym leaders had their hands full against Charon's creation. They each had at least one pokemon active and launching attacks while the robotic tank moved forward. It had yet to attack, but was enduring the gym leaders' attacks quite easily. But Wake seemed to have an idea.

"Everyone! Stand back!" Wake called out with a grin, taking a pokeball in each hand. "My boys will take care of this! Floatzel! Gyarados!" The pokeballs in his hands opened, releasing the two pokemon. "Attack that thing with Brine, both of you!"

Floatzel and Gyarados nodded and opened their mouths to fire a stream of water at the X-ATM092. Unlike a regular water attack, the water they were shooting at their opponent was composed entirely of salt water rather than fresh water. This didn't seem to make any difference, though. The water splashed harmlessly off the tank's body.

"Fool. Don't you think waterproofing was one of the first things I considered for such a creation?" Charon, still displayed on an overhead monitor, said to Wake. "Furthermore, I am prepared to deal with your pokemon quite swiftly. Observe."

The X-ATM092 opened one of its giant claws and pointed it toward the two water pokemon. A slot in the middle of the claw opened and electricity charged along the inside of the claws. Two bolts of electricity then fired out in quick succession, striking the two water pokemon. Floatzel and Gyarados roared in pain and Gyarados immediately collapsed while Floatzel seemed to just barely remain standing. Wake immediately recalled Gyarados.

"Tch!" Wake clenched a fist. "This thing is just full of surprises!"

"Then allow me!" Fantina called out, taking a pokeball in hand and releasing a banette. "Banette, phase through it and strike with Thunderbolt!" Banette nodded and quickly flew off toward the X-ATM092. Banette flew over it and stopped, then tried lowering herself into the machine by going incorporeal. To her surprise, a jolt of electricity shot through her when she tried and threw her back.

"You will find I've had extensive experience with ghost pokemon and have developed defenses thusly," Charon said to them. The X-ATM092 reached back with one of its claws and grabbed Banette. The same barrier that prevented her from entering the machine now kept her firmly in its grasp while sending electricity through her body. Shortly after, a rather large jolt shot through her and knocked her out. The tank then tossed the unconscious ghost aside.

"So even ghosts will not work..." Fantina mumbled in disbelief. Worried about further attacks, she recalled her banette.

"We're not out of options yet!" Candice yelled, taking a pokeball in each hand. From those pokeballs, she released Abomasnow and Glaceon to join her previously released Froslass. Upon being released, Abomasnow's ability triggered an indoor blizzard to blow throughout the hangar.

"Froslass! Glaceon! Blizzard, freeze it solid with the full power of the storm Abomasnow's making!" Froslass and Glaceon focused their power, taking control over the storm and directing all the ice and snow within it toward the X-ATM092. Ice began to form over it, but didn't seem to impede it in the slightest.

"A decent effort, but not quite good enough," Charon said to them. "Now, witness the true firepower of my creation." The X-ATM092 extended its other claw this time and another slot opened in the middle. Rather than electricity, a wide stream of flames shot out from this one. Froslass and Abomasnow were completely swallowed up by the flames and almost instantly dropped, but Glaceon took only a glancing blow that scorched the left side of his back.

"I'm disappointed. Is this the best Sinnoh's finest can do?" Charon taunted the gym leaders. "Then allow me to end this quickly. Your usefulness as test subjects has expired." The X-ATM092 crouched down as Charon spoke and folded its claws in front of it. Its speed began to increase as it moved across the hangar, quite obviously intent on ramming the gym leaders.

"Bastiodon! Block it!" Byron called out. Bastiodon, already released from its pokeball to fight Charon's creation, quickly moved forward to block the X-ATM092's path.

Roark looked between his father and Bastiodon with a determined expression, then to his own pokemon. Ramparados stood ready, waiting for commands from Roark. "Ramparados, we're not backing down from this! HEAD SMASH!" Ramparados nodded and charged forward while Byron looked at his son in shock.

"Hey! I've got this! Leave the blocking to the defensive pokemon or your Ramparados is going to get hurt!" Byron said to him.

"I can handle this!" Roark shot back bitterly. Today, he was quite eager to prove he could handle himself. Ramparados charged in to attack X-ATM092, head lowered. As he approached, the robot slowed down and extended a claw, meeting Ramparados' charge with a swift blow to the head. The claw was knocked back by the force of the impact but seemed to be undamaged, but Ramparados dropped unconscious almost immediately.

"D-damn it..." Roark grumbled. After one attack, his strongest pokemon was out cold. Swallowing down his pride, Roark recalled his pokemon.

"Roark, I don't know what your problem is but now's not the time!" Byron yelled at his son. His own pokemon, Bastiodon, stood completely undeterred in the X-ATM092's path. The X-ATM092 came to a stop as Charon considered whether or not his machine could get past it.

"Using the Block technique, no doubt," Charon mused. "Hitting that at full speed could prove disasterous. I will have to seek other means to deal with this nuisance."

The X-ATM092 opened both claws and aimed them at Bastiodon. From one claw, a stream of flames fired out. From the other, a blast of electricity. Bastiodon growled in pain as he was struck by both, but continued to maintain his position. Bastiodon was an incredibly defensive pokemon, he would be able to take quite a bit of punishment before going down.

"Lucario! Now's our chance!" Maylene called out to the pokemon standing before her. "Get in there and attack with Force Palm! Aim for the face!"

Lucario charged across the hangar while the X-ATM092 was busy with Bastiodon. He channeled aura into his paws as he made his approach and jumped into the air, then came down toward the 'face' of the robot, which consisted of a pair of large red panels. Lucario struck out with one paw, striking between the panels and letting loose a wave of aura that tore them apart.

"A useless gesture," Charon said, knowing what the gym leader had been trying. "So long as we are battling in here, I can still...

"Roserade, Leaf Storm!" Gardenia called out, cutting Charon off. Roserade leapt into the air and spun around, unleashing a massive barrage of leaves. However, they weren't aiming for the X-ATM092. Instead, the leaves shot into the screen and speakers, destroying them almost instantly. With the screen destroyed, X-ATM092 stopped its attack, finally giving Bastiodon a break.

"One more move should end this monster!" Byron said, taking another pokeball in his hand. "Magneton, Thunderbolt! Aim for the hole!" From the pokeball, a magneton emerged and immediately began charging electricity across its three unfused magnets. Spotting its target, it fired a bolt of electricity. The bolt hit its mark, entering the hole ripped open by Maylene's lucario. The machine started shaking and produing sparks as electricity flowed into it, then finally collapsed.

"Well THAT was more difficult than it should have been!" Candice said, folding her arms. "I just wish we could still see that guy's face. I bet his expression would have been priceless!"

"Looks like we're finished here, in any case," Byron said. "Alright, everyone, move out. Look for an exit and check for anymore traps. We were careless coming in here, we can't afford that anymore." The rest of the gym leaders voiced their agreement and immediately set to work exploring the rest of the hangar, all the while being cautious incase the X-ATM092 wasn't as lifeless as it seemed.

However, Byron stopped one of the gym leaders before. He reached out and put a hand on the young man's shoulder to stop him. "I think we need to talk, Roark." Roark stopped, but he didn't say anything. "Wanna tell me what that attitude is about?"

"...Why? Why did you take Dawn with you instead of me?"

Byron frowned. "Because I thought you could handle yourself without me. Though it seems I might have been wrong about that." Byron released his grip on his son's shoulder. "We'll discuss this later. For now, you don't do anything unless I tell you to." With that, Byron left to join the others in their search.

"Guess I screwed up..." Roark muttered to himself, clenching a fist. He relaxed his hand after a moment and then went to join the others as well.

* * *

"You don't stand a chance against me, you brat!" Mars said, grinning as she took a pokeball in her hand. "Golbat, go! Attack his pokemon with Poison Fang!" The pokeball opened and a golbat emerged from it. The golbat immediately flew toward Pips, fangs bared...

But was stopped midway. A yellow, humanoid pokemon carrying a pair of spoons suddenly appeared between Pips and the golbat. When it appeared, a blue aura surrounded the golbat. It was then smashed into the floor repeatedly, rendering it unconscious by the time it was released from the psychic power that gripped it. Seeing her golbat so easily defeated, Mars stared at the new arrival in shock.

"Meet Abs, my alakazam," Lucas said to Mars. "I wasn't bluffing when I said I had stronger pokemon. And now, I finally have them. So, you won't be winning this time."

"Don't get cocky over this win! I still have two pokemon left!" Mars shot back. Despite her tough words, she was sweating now as she recalled her golbat. "Bronzong, go! Deal with this pest!" she called out, releasing a floating bronze bell pokemon. Just as soon as he had heard the name, though, Lucas was already taking a pokeball in his hand.

"Mags, go!" Lucas called out, releasing another pokemon next to his Abs. The pokemon that appeared was five feet in height and rather chubby looking. Its body had a flame-like design on it and its arms looked like cannons.

"Mags, Fire Blast!" Mags took aim at Bronzong with its right arm and fired a large ball of fire. The ball of fire expanded, taking a shape similar to a stick figure just before finally hitting Bronzong. Bronzong groaned as the flames heated its body. The flames then exploded, blasting Bronzong into the floor and shattering the tiles. The pokemon tried to float back up again, but it was too weak and dropped back down.

_What's with this kid's strength all of a sudden!_ Mars wondered in disbelief. _Why did he have such strong pokemon and not use them before!_

"You know, it's been a while since my pokemon have gotten a decent workout," Lucas said to Mars. Mags and Abs nodded their agreement. "It's a bit disappointing that your pokemon keep falling in one hit. If it's going to be like that, then my guys won't have any fun."

_How dare he talk down to me!_ Mars thought, gritting her teeth. _But no matter what way I look at this, I don't stand a chance at beating him! These pokemon are just too strong! I have no choice, I'll have to fall back and regroup at Mt. Coronet! _Mars recalled Bronzong and then turned and fled down the corridor.

"Guess she's going to be boring then," Lucas said, shrugging. His pokemon, save for Pips, frowned in disappointment. "Well, we're done here for now. Let's see if we can find the others."

* * *

"I see. So your project has failed, Charon?" Cyrus said into an ear-mounted communicator. "No matter. We're done here. Even if this headquarters falls, it will make no difference now. Have all available personnel move to Mt. Coronet." Cyrus walked to the center of the computer room he was now in and grabbed a red string of crystals from the table there. "The plan proceeds."

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"

"...But it seems I have one more issue to deal with. I will leave as soon as it is dealt with." Cyrus clicked a button on his communicator to turn it off, then searched the table in front of him. Various papers, books, and tools were spread out. With his free hand he grabbed a paper and pen and wrote something down.

"Don't you dare just ignore me after saying that!" Dawn yelled from the room's entrance. "There's no way I'm going to let someone like you get away with all this!"

"Is that so? So you heard my speech then..." Cyrus turned to face her, now holding the paper in his hand along with the chain. Dawn could feel a strange, powerful aura from the crystals. "I had a feeling you might show up, but I did not expect to see you until I had reached Mt. Coronet."

"Hmph. I bet you think you have all the answers, don't you!" Dawn shot back.

"Indeed." Cyrus replied. "Do you recall the pokemon that was sleeping at the bottom of Lake Verity? You were playing with it, one day. It seemed quite attached to you, specifically."

"Yeah, I remember. What about it?" Dawn asked. She didn't care too much for why Cyrus would know that. In addition to the auras from the crystals, and the distinct lack of an aura from Cyrus, Dawn could feel three powerful but wavering auras nearby. She had a feeling what Cyrus was about to say next would tell her what those were.

"That pokemon is here, as we speak. No doubt in quite a bit of pain, I might add," Cyrus said to her, his expression almost completely blank as he spoke. He noticed Dawn flinch when he mentioned the part about Mesprit being in pain. Good. That was the reaction he wanted.

"However, I have here a special code," Cyrus held out the paper to her. "Put that into the main computer in the containment room and it will release the lake pokemon. I have what I need from them, so it matters not to me if you release them. The room is just down the hall."

Dawn growled and quickly reached out, snatching the paper from Cyrus. "I'll be releasing those three, but I'm definitely not finished with you!"

"Of course not, I wouldn't expect any less," Cyrus replied, placing his hands behind his back, fingers idly fondling the chain of crystals he held. "I will be heading to the top of Mt. Coronet now. You do whatever it is you think you're going to do." Without another word, Cyrus moved past Dawn, heading down the same hall just outside that he directed her to.

"Damn him..." Dawn growled, clenching the paper tightly in her hand. Freeing the three lake pokemon would now take priority over chasing Cyrus, even if he had been lying about the code. She was sure whatever the pokemon were confined in was something she could break somehow. As she finally took off down that hall as well, part of her mind was telling her that she should have expected this. Afterall, wasn't it still too early for a final boss encounter?

The corridor that Dawn had charged down eventually split off into two directions. One seemed to lead to an exit, as evidenced by the white and red 'exit' sign over it. The other seemed to be some kind of computer room. The corridor bothered Dawn, though. It suddenly seemed as if she had charged straight into some kind of sci-fi horror movie, running past vats full of strange green liquids and scientists mumbling about what they were made to do.

_I get the feeling that whatever Cyrus did, it wasn't very nice_, Dawn thought, then finally reached the end of the corridor and entered the room. She froze when she saw, and felt, what awaited her.

_Not very nice at all_, she thought upon seeing the three vats in the room. Like the ones in the corridor, a strange green liquid filled them. In addition, though, each also contained a pokemon. Dawn could feel powerful auras from them, and could also feel their pain. The three pokemon in the vats were suffering. One of those pokemon she immediately recognized as Mesprit.

Dawn rushed toward the first computer that she saw, pushing two men aside to get at it. In her haste, she didn't even notice who the individuals were. She didn't particularly care, either. They were both knocked to the floor while Dawn took the crumpled paper in her hand and looked it over, then started hitting buttons.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing!" One of the two men, Lt. Commander Saturn, angrily demanded as he bolted back onto his feet. Noticing that Dawn was just hitting buttons without pulling up any kind of prompt on the screen, Saturn groaned. "Nevermind that, you don't even know how computers work! You can't put in a code like that!"

"You can," the other man, Commander Charon, said with a wry grin as he finally stood up. "If the computer was programmed to recognize it."

"I got this code from Cyrus himself, he said it'd free the legendary pokemon!" Dawn said, not even looking up from the keyboard in front of her.

"Free the legendary pokemon?" Saturn asked in disbelief. "But why would he even DO that! You don't even need a code for it! You just have to press the release button!" Before Saturn could finish speaking, Dawn had finished entering the code. As expected, the pokemon had not been released, though a timer had now appeared on the screen. Dawn was confused by this, and Saturn looked to Charon for an answer. "What kind of code is this?"

"A very special code!" Charon replied. "One only Cyrus and I know about. You see, that code..." A twisted grin spread across Charon's face. "Was the self-destruct code."

Hearing this, Dawn looked at the screen in utter horror. Not only had she been tricked, but in the worst way possible. Not only was Cyrus going to be rid of her, but the gym leaders as well. Dawn had to think of something fast if everyone was going to get out alive.

She had less than thirty seconds.

* * *

Author's Notes: I think I might be starting to enjoy writing Cyrus, and making his actions actually match his personality. He's going to create a new world, right? So why the hell should he care about what happens to anyone in this one? If he has to blow up a building and sacrifice his entire 'team' to get what he wants, then big deal. Purgatory justifies the means (it's supposed to be Utopia, but...)

Well, I'm sure the building will be evacuated in time anyway. How long did they have again? ...Oh yeah. Huh. That'd be just enough time to ensure whoever activated that code could get to the nearby, conveniently-placed exit warp, and probably not much more than that.

Cyrus's speech was taken DIRECTLY from the in-game dialogue, btw. Didn't feel any need to change that.


	36. Chapter 36: Dawn Versus Dusk

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 36**

**Dawn Versus Dusk**

Many emotions, thoughts ran through Dawn's mind. Confusion. Rage. Panic. She was prepared to be disappointed, to find out Cyrus lied to her. She didn't at all expect to suddenly find herself with 30 seconds to figure out a way to either get everyone out of the building or stop a selfdestruct sequence that she had started.

Make that 25 seconds.

"Charon, is there any way to stop this thing!" Saturn yelled. Charon shook his head.

"I'm afraid not," Charon replied. "Once the countdown has started, the only way to stop it is to remove or defuse the explosives. But they are in the very bottom of this building. We wouldn't be able to get there in time, let alone accomplish that task."

20 seconds.

Dawn shook her head, snapping out of her daze, and looked around the room. There had to be SOME way out of this mess! It didn't take long for her to figure out at least one possible solution. There was a chance there'd be nothing to gain by it, but Dawn didn't have time for trial and error. Now was the time to act.

15 seconds.

"Well, if you plan to do something, I would suggest doing it quick," Charon said, then started toward the exit. "I, however, am not taking my chances on you two. I'm leaving." Charon left, hurrying toward the exit while Dawn put her desparate plan into motion.

"Saturn! You said something about a button?" Dawn asked. Saturn didn't voice a response, instead reaching over toward the computer and pressing a red button on the keyboard.

Ten seconds.

The tubes surrounding the three legendary pokemon opened and the wires attached to them dislodged, freeing the pokemon of the lake. Shaking off the lingering pain they felt from the treatment, they emerged from their containment. The pink-headed one, Mesprit, nodded to Dawn. All three of the lake pokemon then disappeared in a flash.

"I wonder if they'll really help us..." Saturn muttered, recalling the way they had been treated. He regretted it, though only because of his leader's recent betrayal.

"If there's anything they can do, they'll do it," Dawn assured him.

Meanwhile, the clock continued to tick. Five seconds remaining. Four. Three. Two. One. An explosion was heard in the distance and Dawn prepared for the worst, but the building remained standing. Though she couldn't tell what it was they had done, it appeared that, at least for the moment, they were safe.

Saturn was the first to move after the timer had stopped. He bolted out of the room and, without thinking, Dawn followed. Saturn went back down the hall Dawn came down before, past confused scientists and the strange tubes of green liquid, arriving at the room where Dawn had initially confronted Cyrus. There, Saturn immediately moved to a console sitting in front of nine monitors and started messing around.

Some kind of security station? Dawn wondered. She watched Saturn typing away at the console for a moment, then her eyes moved to the monitors. Different images flickered on the screens until, eventually, one of them showed an image from what looked like a hidden storage room. There, the three pixies could be seen surrounding a fireball. Each pixie had their eyes closed in concentration and a blue glow was surrounding the fireball, which seemed to be held in place by them.

"They're holding the explosion at bay it seems," Saturn said to Dawn. "For now, at least. But the building needs to be evacuated while we have the chance." Dawn nodded. For once, she was in complete agreement with a member of Team Galactic.

* * *

With the explosion being held in place, Dawn and Saturn were able to evacuate everyone from the building. Dawn alerted the gym leaders and Saturn took care of everyone left in Team Galactic. Charon had disappeared by the time everyone was out, and every member of Team Galactic was to be taken in for questioning. Including Saturn himself and Maylene's father, who was happy to find everyone still alive and promised to find a real job.

Once everyone was finally out of the building, the pixies took their leave as well. They vanished from the storage room and reappeared outside the building, at which point it was engulfed by an explosion. Debris was thrown all around the city, but the gym leaders were ready and had their pokemon spread out to destroy any threatening debris.

_Somehow, everything turned out okay I guess_, Dawn thought. She let out a sigh of relief and then turned her attention from the building to the pink and gray pixie floating next to her. "So should I take this to mean you'll be coming with me to Mt. Coronet?" she asked it. Mesprit nodded.

"-Yes, and thank you for rescuing us!-" Mesprit said. "-Uxie and Azelf will likely meet us there as well.-"

"Eh?" Dawn blinked in disbelief. "I understood that fully..."

"-It's because I felt a connection to you, so I decided to form a bond!-" Mesprit said happily. "-I'm Mesprit, the being of emotions!-"

"Well that's good to know." Dawn smiled wryly. "I don't suppose that you have a way to get to Mt. Coronet in a hurry?" Dawn then asked, but Mesprit shook its head.

"-Our more potent powers, such as what you witnessed before, are only available when the three of us are together,-" Mesprit said to her.

"Great..." Dawn sighed. "So I have to walk and Cyrus already has a good lead too."

"Not necessarily," someone said to them. Dawn and Mesprit turned to see Lucas approaching them. Floating next to Lucas was another pixie, this one with a yellow head. "Since I've been there once before. I can get Abs to teleport us to the base of Mt. Coronet. We'd just have to climb from there."

"Wait... Lucas, why is that pokemon with you?" Dawn asked, pointing at Uxie in disbelief.

"Apparently because I'm smart," Lucas replied, trying not to grin at that. "Anyway, you're going after Team Galactic's leader, right?" he asked. "I'll go with you too. Might give me the chance to face Mars again."

"Can't argue with that I guess, since I'm getting a quick ride there," Dawn replied, nodding. "Okay, let's go then."

Dawn and Lucas left the crowded scene in front of the ruins of the Galactic building and found a secluded place to teleport to Mt. Coronet. None of the gym leaders even noticed them leave, however. They were too busy dealing with the rest of Team Galactic.

* * *

Mere moments after leaving the crowded scene in Veilstone City, Dawn and Lucas reappeared along with Abs, Mesprit, and Uxie, on a familiar bridge at the foot of Mt. Coronet. Dawn recognized the area as the spot she had stopped to train her pokemon and had encountered Ashley. With the mountain in sight, Dawn scanned the top and a sudden realization dawned on her.

"I just remembered something," Dawn muttered, rubbing her head in frustration.

"What's that?" Lucas asked her.

Dawn shook her head and smiled at him. "Nevermind. You go on to the top of the mountain. I'll catch up to you in a bit. There's something I need to take care of first."

"Huh..." Lucas raised an eyebrow and looked around, wondering what she meant. Seeing nothing, he shrugged. "Well, whatever you say. Let's go, Abs," Lucas turned and recalled his alakazam, then continued across the bridge and into the mountain with Uxie following along behind him. Once she was sure he was gone, Dawn spoke up.

"I know you're watching, so you might as well come out now and get this over with!" Dawn said impatiently. Mesprit looked around in confusion, wondering who she was talking to.

"So, you remember what I said, then?" a voice that seemed to come from nowhere said to Dawn. "And yet..." On the other side of the bridge, a vortex suddenly opened on the ground and a young girl wrapped in a purple cloak stepped out. "You still intend to go there, don't you? The one place in Sinnoh I told you not to go."

"You've probably been watching me all this time, so you should know the answer to that," Dawn replied, taking a pokeball from her belt.

"Hmph..." Dusk stretched out her hand, gesturing toward a spot on the ground in front of her to open another vortex. "Of course, I knew it would come to this the moment you confronted Cyrus. But from the way things are looking, now is definitely a bad time for you to go up there." From the vortex in front of her a black, ghostly doll emerged. "So just leave quietly and leave this to me."

Dawn forced a smile. "So you're going to handle it? That's reassuring!" Dawn said, but her smile quickly turned into a frown. "Did you really think I'd say something like that at this point? Even ignoring what's going on here, I think it's about time I faced you seriously!" Dawn held out the pokeball she had grabbed, releasing Captain Falcon onto the bridge before her.

"-Wait! What's going on here!-" Mesprit asked, confused by the sudden confrontation.

"Long story short, she thinks me being in the wrong place at the wrong time will cause a disaster," Dawn explained to Mesprit. "And the top of Mt. Coronet is one of those places she told me not to go. So if I want to go there..."

"She needs to get through me first," Dusk said. "But, you know, it's hardly fair that you have seven pokemon, one of which happens to be a legendary pokemon," she added, a smirk crossing her lips. "So I'll be going all out today. There's all sorts of fun ways for me to use my power that I haven't shown you yet!"

"Then let's see them!" Dawn called back. "Captain Falcon, rise up and then attack with Aerial Ace!" Captain Falcon flapped her wings and began to rise into the air. As she gained altitude, she finally recognized her surroundings, remembering how close she had come to finally escaping.

"You can't hide from us in the air," Dusk said. "Seeker, use Will-o-Wisp." Dusk and Seeker both stretched out their hands, Seeker seemingly aiminging straight ahead with its attack. It soon became clear to Dawn what Dusk was doing, though, as a pair of vortexes suddenly opened. One in front of Seeker, and one above Captain Falcon.

_She's using the vortexes to direct her attacks!_ Dawn realized. Sure enough, the purple flame that Seeker fired emerged directly in front of Captain Falcon and she flew straight into it. The vortex then closed before Captain Falcon could fly through that as well, but the damage had been done. The flames grazed Captain Falcon's right wing as she tried to move out of the way, leaving a nasty burn.

_Great, that's going to be a problem_, Dawn thought, wincing. In spite of the burn, Captain Falcon suddenly made a sharp turn and down straight down toward Seeker. In a flash of movement, she shot toward the ground and pulled up at the last second to slash across Seeker's body with her beak. Seeker grimaced in pain and was knocked to the side slightly by the attack, which was weakened by Captain Falcon's burn.

"Excellent, Seeker. You may return for now," Dusk said, then opened another vortex for Seeker to disappear into. The vortex then closed and another one opened, this time revealing what looked like a fan surrounded in plasma. "Shocker shall take the field now."

"Captain Falcon, that's enough for now. Return," Dawn called out, taking Captain Falcon's pokeball in her hand and recalling her. She then switched the pokeball with another. I get the feeling Dusk's going to switch pokemon a lot, so this should even things! she thought. "Assassin, I choose you!" The pokeball opened and released the small, scorpion-like pokemon onto the bridge.

_The power this girl is using... somehow, it seems familiar to me_, Mesprit thought, narrowing its eyes in contemplation. _Have I felt this power somewhere before? These strange energies she appears to be giving off?_

"Sending out a bug-type?" Dusk smirked. "Then I guess you don't realize what Shocker can do in this form. Shocker, show her! Use Air Slash!" Shocker's fan whirled, sucking in air and then firing a blade at Assassin. Assassin screeched in pain as the blade slashed across her body.

"-Owowow!-" she cried.

"I know EXACTLY what I'm doing!" Dawn replied with a smirk. She had a plan, though she did wish she didn't choose such an opponent to enact it against. Still, she knew exactly how to put this match in her favor. "Assassin, use Toxic Spikes!" Assassin nodded and aimed her tail and claws forward, then fired a barrage of spikes across the battlefield. The poisonous spikes embedded themselves in the bridge and ground beyond, threatening to jab any pokemon Dusk sent out.

_Tch! That will actually prove to be rather annoying_, Dusk thought. Though her ghosts did tend to levitate, most stuck close to the ground and well within range of the spikes. Dusk glared at the bug pokemon that had fired them. _Regardless, I'll finish this one off before it causes too much more trouble._

"Shocker, use Air Slash again!" Shocker powered up its fan again, sending another blade of air slashing across Assassin's body. The skorupi cried out in pain and nearly collapsed. She was only barely able to withstand the second attack and definitely couldn't take a third.

"Assassin, let's attack this thing while we can! Night Slash!" At Dawn's command, Assassin gathered her strength and shot forward. She weaved between the toxic spikes on the bridge, not that they would have affected her, and quickly approached her target. At the last moment she jumped and sliced Shocker across the side as she passed by, landing behind it. Sparks flew from Shocker's body and it staggered from the blow, but quickly shook it off and turned to face Assassin.

"Shocker, finish it off with a quick Thundershock," Dusk said to it. Shocker nodded and fired a quick blast of electricity at Assassin. Assassin didn't even cry out in pain this time. She just collapsed, and Dawn immediately recalled her.

_Even though Assassin was defeated so easily, she's cleared a path to victory for me!_ Dawn thought. She clipped Assassin's pokeball to her belt and took another one in her hand. "Captain Falcon! Your turn again!" she called out, releasing the bird onto the field once more.

_This one again? She must be planning something_, Dusk thought. Not wanting to take any chances, she immediately called for an attack, hoping to finish Captain Falcon quickly. "Shocker, Discharge!"

"Captain Falcon, climb quickly!" Captain Falcon shot straight up into the air as Shocker discharged a wide blast of electricity from its body. Captain Falcon was narrowly able to get high enough in time.

"Now! Use Aerial Ace from directly above it!" Captain Falcon winged over to where Shocker was, positioning herself above it, then dove straight down. She seemed to disappear as she gained a burst of speed in her dive, striking Shocker directly from above and pounding it into the ground. This was the effect Dawn had intended for, as hitting the ghost pokemon into the ground meant it had now hit the poison spikes that she had spread previously.

"Well that wasn't very nice," Dusk muttered bitterly. Shocker slowly floated back up, wincing from the poison that had become mixed into its ghostly form.

"I'm just getting started!" Dawn shot back, grabbing a pokeball in each hand. "Captain Falcon, that's enough for now! Return!" Dawn recalled Captain Falcon and then held out her other pokeball. "Bahamut, your turn now!" The pokeball opened, and now Bahamut emerged with his arms crossed in front of him.

"-This time... **VICTORY!**-" Bahamut growled.

Seems Dawn can be quite the tricky opponent when she gets serious, Dusk thought. I'm sure my pokemon are still stronger than her's, but she's giving me a hard time. I've taken one of her pokemon out and yet I feel like I'm against the ropes here. Shocker definitely can't finish her pokemon off before the poison gets to it, at any rate...

"Shocker, that's enough for now!" Dusk called out, opening a vortex directly behind it. Shocker moved back into the vortex, disappearing. It closed briefly, only to be replaced by another portal from which Dusk's froslass emerged. She winced as she floated out, her long arms reaching down just far enough to touch the spikes from where she was.

_How expected_, Dawn thought. _And I bet I know what she'll do when I attack, too._

"Bahamut, Flamethrower!" Dawn called out. Bahamut opened his mouth and charged forward, stopping just as he reached the spot on the bridge where the toxic spikes started.

"-INCINERATE!-" Bahamut shrieked, loosing a blast of flames toward the white ghostly pokemon.

As the flames moved through the air, Dusk made a slight motion with each hand. "No." Two vortexes opened, one in front of Bahamut and one behind him, cutting off the attack shortly after it had reached Freezer. Bahamut yelled in shock as his own flames suddenly engulfed him, but Dawn only smirked.

"I thought you might do something like that!" Dawn yelled. "Bahamut, now's your chance! Burning Claw!" Bahamut grinned and extended his claws, still breathing fire into the vortexes surrounding him. Dusk realized what he was doing and closed the vortexes, but was too late. As soon as she closed them, a flaming gabite lunged toward her pokemon.

"-**FLAMINGDRAGONBURNINGCLAW STRIIIIIIIIIKE!**-" Bahamut shrieked as he came down toward his target. Freezer was so shocked she didn't even have time to move. The flaming dragon pokemon landed on her, slashing his claws across her face. The flames dispersed almost immediately upon impact, but the damage was done. The frost ghost was left lying on the ground under Bahamut, out cold. Bahamut immediately jumped back, avoiding the spikes as he moved away.

"Tch... you're getting to be awfully annoying today," Dusk muttered. With a motion of her hands, the two vortexes over the bridge vanished. Another opened over Freezer and a dusknoir emerged, grabbing the unconscious ghost pokemon and throwing her inside. The dusknoir's lower body was resting on the spikes when he emerged, though, and poison seeped into his body.

"I'm going to be more than annoying! Today I'm going to beat you!" Dawn shot back. Glancing toward her own pokemon, though, she realized she had a problem as well. Being on fire let Bahamut make a powerful attack against Freezer, but his body was now covered in burns and scorch marks.

_That's two pokemon I managed to get burned now, not good!_ Dawn thought. _I'll have to be a bit more careful, otherwise my own pokemon will wear down as quickly as Dusk's. I have a plan to deal with this one, though._

"Bahamut, that's enough for now! Return!" Dawn called out, holding out Bahamut's pokeball and recalling him. She then swapped his pokeball for another one. "Ryu! Go!" The pokeball in Dawn's hand opened, releasing a small riolu onto the field in front of her.

"-Ready to fight!-" Ryu shouted, sliding into a fighting stance with one hand held out in front of him and the other at his side.

_Another seemingly poor matchup for her. I wonder what she's planning?_ Dusk thought. Shaking her head, she decided on a course of action she thought would be safe. "Reaper, use Will-o-Wisp!" she called out while moving her hands to open the appropriate vortexes, one in front of Reaper while he launched the flames and one behind Ryu. Ryu, however, could sense something amiss when the vortex opened and moved out of the way before Reaper even fired. When the purple flames came through, they missed entirely.

"Ryu, Foresight!" Ryu closed his eyes and focused. He felt for the auras around him and, with much concentration, was soon able to feel the ghost's aura. He focused on that, identifying Reaper.

_Even if she does that, it doesn't give her any special advantages. Her pokemon's attacks will just hit normally_, Dusk thought. _Still, seems this one is going to be rather annoying, but its not very strong. We'll just attack full power. _

Dusk snapped her fingers, closing the two vortexes, then called out her attack. "Reaper, Focus Punch!" At Dusk's command, Reaper began to draw back his fist, focusing his power into it.

_This is bad! Ryu doesn't have any ranged attacks to counter with that, and it'll be ready to punch by the time he gets close!_ Dawn thought, gritting her teeth. _Here's hoping Ryu can take it then..._

After charging enough power for his attack, Reaper charged across the field. Seeing the attack coming, Ryu braced himself. He wasn't confident he could avoid it, so he could only hope to take it. When Reaper was almost upon him, Dawn finally called out an attack.

"Ryu! Counter!" Ryu only had a brief moment to register the command before Reaper was upon him, striking down with an immensely powerful punch. Ryu was able to endure the blow, bracing against the ground against it, but it obviously dealt an incredible amount of damage.

Ryu responded to the punch by leaping toward Reaper, jumping alongside his arm and delivering a punch to the ghost pokemon's face that threw its own power back at it. Despite being a ghost, Reaper dropped like a sack of bricks. The only thing that stopped it from hitting the ground was the vortex that opened, allowing him to fall into it.

"I suppose I walked right into that one, but your pokemon won't hold up much longer either," Dusk said to Dawn. "In fact, you only have two pokemon that aren't already severely weakened. So I'll just finish this one off quickly." Dusk gestured toward the vortex in front of Ryu, causing it to flicker briefly as she replaced it with another. From this new vortex, Seeker emerged, avoiding the hazard of the toxic spikes by appearing on Dawn's side of the field.

"Ryu, good job! Return!" Dawn called out, recalling Ryu and placing his pokeball on her belt. Dawn then took a pokeball in each hand. "Bowser, go!" Holding out one of the pokeballs, she released Bowser next. When Bowser appeared he was no more than a few feet away from Seeker.

"Seeker, use Will-O-Wisp!" Dusk called out, not bothering with vortexes this time due to the short distance between the two pokemon. As Seeker stretched out his hands, though, something strange happened. Without a word, Dawn immediately recalled Bowser and sent out a pokemon from the other pokeball in her hand. As the purple flames fired out, the pokemon that appeared to take the hit was...

"Axel! I choose you!" Axel emerged from the pokeball in Dawn's other hand, almost immediately being subjected to the Will-O-Wisp attack that Seeker had fired. However, the attack had a very different effect on Axel. Rather than inflicting a burn, the flames seemed to envelope Axel's body, causing an immense fire to surround him.

"-Ohhh yeah! Now we're cooking!-" Axel said with a grin.

"Wh-what the hell!" Dusk cried out in shock. "You can't just switch pokemon so suddenly like that!"

"Can and did!" Dawn replied, smirking. "Now, let me show you the full fire power of this Flashfire-empowered ponyta! Axel, FIRE BLAST!" Axel opened his mouth and shot a fireball at Seeker. The fireball was still small when it hit but was still pushing Seeker back, expanding and taking the familiar stick figure shape as it burned against the ghost pokemon's body. It was almost across the bridge when it finally exploded in a burst of flames, sending Seeker plummeting to the ground on the other side. The ghost pokemon was now lying on the spikes, but it didn't matter. It wasn't getting back up.

_Ah, seems Dawn has this battle under control now_, Mesprit thought. The lake pokemon had been silently observing until now, while also trying to figure out the source of Dusk's power. _Still, even after this long, I haven't figured out a thing! Why does that power feel so familiar and yet I don't have a clue!_

_Great, there goes half my pokemon now_, Dusk thought, bitterly opening a vortex so a pair of shadowy, purple hands could reach out and pull Seeker inside. The vortex immediately closed after. _Shocker doesn't stand a chance. Looks like my best bet is to use Caster against this one, and I'll end it in one move!_

Dusk made a gesture with her hands to open another vortex, and from this one a witch-like ghost pokemon emerged. "Caster, use Perish Song!" Dusk called out immediately. Caster then began to sing in a dark, melancholy tone.

"Perish Song, huh?" Dawn smirked. "Then I guess we should finish this quickly! Axel, Fire Spin!" Axel opened his mouth and fired a spiralling burst of flames. The flames struck Caster and swirled around it, creating a vortex of fire that kept her trapped.

"Okay, now get ready with a Fire Blast," Dawn whispered. Axel gave a slight nod and opened his mouth.

"Think I'd let you trap my pokemon like that?" Dusk asked Dawn while making a gesture with her hand. A vortex opened near the base of the swirling flames, sending almost the entire column into whatever abyss it was that the vortexes lead into and freeing Caster.

"AXEL! NOW!" Dawn called out. Axel shot the fireball he had readied, but another vortex suddenly opened up between him and Caster. The fireball he had shot disappeared into this new vortex.

"Yeah, no, don't think I didn't notice you muttering something to your pokemon just now," Dusk said, narrowing her eyes at Dawn. "You've been surprising me quite a bit today when it should have been me pulling out the surprises, but that's enough of that."

"Fine. That was such a good plan, too," Dawn muttered. "Well, in that case, attack with Flame Wheel instead!" Axel charged forward at Dawn's command, spewing flames from his mouth to surround him.

"Just have to hold out a little longer," Dusk muttered. "Caster, Confuse Ray!"

Caster didn't have time to try its attack. As Dusk was calling out, Axel jumped into the air and spun into a cartwheel. Axel struck Caster and grinded against her, flames burning her repeatedly until the attack threw her into the ground. Both pokemon ended up landing on the spike-covered side of the field and were poisoned as a result. It was particularly painful for Axel, grazing one of his hooves against a spike.

_Just great! Now all of my pokemon are poisoned!_ Dusk thought, gritting her teeth. It didn't seem to be a total loss, though. As soon as Caster got back up, it fired a ball of light at Axel. The light swirled around him, leaving him confused when it finally disappeared.

"Axel, good enough! Return!" Dawn called out, holding out Axel's pokeball and recalling him. She placed the pokeball back on her belt and held out the one she was still holding from before. "Bowser, let's go! Time to finish this!" The pokeball opened and Bowser emerged onto the field once more.

"-I'll actually do stuff this time, right?-" Bowser grumbled. He had no warning whatsoever prior to Dawn's switching before.

_I don't want to admit it... but I think she's got me, somehow_, Dusk thought, grimacing. _But I won't give up so easily!_ Dusk held out her hand, opening a vortex behind Caster. "Caster, return before that Perish Song can take effect!" Caster nodded and quickly floated back, retreating into the vortex. Dusk then opened another one in its place to call out her only other pokemon, Shocker.

_This is it_, Dawn thought. _All that's left for Bowser to do is to put his defenses to good use and stall Dusk's last two pokemon until they collapse from poison._ Dawn smirked. _And Bowser has just the technique to do that!_

"Wipe that smug look off your face! You've beat me only when you've won!" Dusk growled. "Shocker, Air Slash!" Shocker grinned and let its fans whirl, sucking in air and firing a blade at Bowser. Bowser grimaced in pain as the blade of air slashed across his backside.

"Well, I've pretty much won at this point anyway," Dawn said to Dusk. "Bowser, use Synthesis." The bushes on Bowser's back began to glow as he absorbed light into his body. Within seconds the damage inflicted by Dusk's Shocker was completely healed.

"So you're going to stall me out... was this your plan from the beginning?" Dusk asked her.

Dawn shrugged. "More or less. Having such a nice head start is just icing on the cake." With that, Dawn pointed toward Shocker, who was looking a bit woozy before suddenly collapsing. "The rotom takes damage from poison and faints. And then there were two."

"I hate to admit it, but you might actually be a decent trainer now," Dusk grumbled as she motioned to open another vortex near Shocker. Again, a pair of shadowy, purple hands emerged to pull the unconscious pokemon inside. Dusk then opened another vortex. "Well, this next one will definitely surprise you!"

_Dusk, I can't allow you to use that pokemon_, a voice said to her.

_Wait, what! What gives!_ Dusk thought in response.

_Given the current situation, we can't risk you being incapacitated_, the voice said to her. _Though it will likely mean Dawn will get by you, it is better this way so you may still act freely if something happens._

"Fine," Dusk grumbled. "Well, seems my wonderful spiritual advisor won't let me use that one. So I'm handicapped a pokemon," Dusk said to Dawn.

"Ah..." Dawn smirked. "The mysterious final pokemon could not be used, and then there was one."

"Well, I'll just have to rely on Caster to finish this!" Dusk replied, still holding onto some hope for victory as she opened another vortex. Again, though, nothing emerged.

_About that, you seem to have forgotten that you don't have the same benefits as other trainers when you recall pokemon since you do not use pokeballs_, the voice said to her. _Therefore..._

"Perish Song wasn't negated..." Dusk grumbled. "So I'm actually out of pokemon..."

"And the last pokemon fell to its own Perish Song, and then there were none?" Dawn said, smiling sheepishly. "Well, come to think of it, you just send them away to another plane or something, right? You should consider just investing in pokeballs."

"Duly noted..." Dusk grumbled. "Well, don't think you've seen the last of me! I just have to work on my strategy a bit more!" Dusk said, then quietly added, "And get pokeballs..." With one final gesture, Dusk opened a vortex under herself and dropped in. Then, the vortex closed, and Dusk was gone without a trace.

"Phew..." Dawn breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad I brought Assassin with me today. Toxic Spikes really helped out in this battle..."

"-I'm still confused about that one,-" Mesprit said. "-Just where does she get those powers?-"

"-Oh, hey, we've got someone tagging along now?-" Bowser asked, finally noticing Mesprit. "-Wait a minute! You're that pokemon! From the lake!-"

"-That's right.-" Mesprit smiled at him, though it only showed in its eyes. "-I'm Mesprit, we met when you were still an unevolved pokemon I believe. You've both made a lot of progress since then!-"

"I don't know exactly, but apparently a legendary pokemon is involved," Dawn said to Mesprit. "Anyway, we need to get going so we can catch up to Lucas already!"

"-Of course, of course,-" Mesprit replied, nodding. Dawn, Bowser, and Mesprit all headed toward the entrance to Mt. Coronet. All the while, though, Mesprit couldn't help but wonder what legendary pokemon could possibly be giving Dusk her power. Surely if such a pokemon existed in the Sinnoh region, Mesprit would know about it, wouldn't it?

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Veilstone, the rest of Team Galactic had been rounded up and were now being carted away under the supervision of the gym leaders. While supervising the arrest, the gym leaders took turns heading to the local pokemon center to restore their pokemon, and Byron was waiting anxiously for the operation to be completed.

"Damn it, I can't believe she just ran off like that..." Byron grumbled under his breath.

"Is there a problem, Byron?" a voice called out from behind him. A voice that caused Byron to freeze up instantly. "This operation seems like it was a success. As you said, the involvement of the Elite Four wasn't necessary at all. So there wouldn't be anything bothering you, would there?"

Byron let out a sigh and slowly turned around. Standing behind him was none other than Cynthia, the current Elite Four Champion. "The operation was a success, but most of the higher ups have escaped," Byron explained to her, trying to retain his composure. "We believe, based on our interrogation, that they're currently heading toward the summit of Mt. Coronet."

"Well, that would be a simple matter to handle, would it not?" Cynthia asked. Though Byron was obviously nervous, Cynthia didn't seem the least bit imposing in her questioning. "As soon as you're finished here the gym leaders can depart for the summit and take care of it. Or is there more to it than that?"

"There is," Byron said to her. "We believe a civilian trainer by the name of Dawn is chasing after him as we speak. She couldn't have gotten far, though, so we're confident we can still beat her there after we're finished."

"Dawn, you say?" Cynthia asked, raising an eyebrow. "Pre-adolescent girl? Sort of blue hair? Ridiculously short red jacket with seemingly nothing under it?"

"She has wind pants, actually," Byron said.

"Certainly an improvement from flashing her panties then," Cynthia mused. "Regardless, in that case there will be no need for the gym leaders to get involved any further." Byron was left completely dumbfounded by that statement. Cynthia turned, looking off toward Mt. Coronet with a small smirk on her lips.

"I'll see to the rest of this personally."

* * *

Author's Notes: Based the idea of how the lake trio stopped the explosion on how they can seal Palkia or Dialga's powers. Speaking of the lake trio, wonder where Azelf disappeared to?

Finally a full battle with Dusk. Dawn won with most of her pokemon still standing, although still in rough shape. Though, Dusk didn't get to use her final pokemon. It wouldn't have made a difference, though. Originally I was going to include it but cut it for plot-related reasons. It just made more sense not to use it, though I really wanted to show that one this chapter...

Observative readers will notice something interesting about all of Dawn's pokemon that she used. Something that will become much more important by about... I'd say Chapter 39. Huh. Now that I think about it, looks like the Sinnoh Saga will be a lot more chapters than I was planning for originally. Think I've been including a lot of things I didn't originally plan for though...


	37. Chapter 37: The Old Gods

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 37**

**The Old Gods**

Unknown to Dawn, getting a ride to Mt. Coronet with Lucas and Abs had actually gotten her there ahead of Cyrus. Arriving there first did little to help her in the end, though. While she was busy at the base of the mountain dealing with Dusk, a black helicopter bearing the Team Galactic symbol landed at the ancient ruins atop the mountain.

Once the helicopter set down, the side door opened. Cyrus was the first to step out and scan his surroundings. He was followed shortly by a grunt and two of his commanders, Jupiter and Mars. The cockpit door then opened and a female grunt stepped out. The two grunts then started unloading equipment from the helicopter.

"So this... is Spear Pillar..." Cyrus muttered to himself as he looked around. "Once upon a time a great temple or monument likely stood here, the place where the gods had appeared. Ancient humans revered these pokemon and constructed a place of worship. It seems the roof of this place of worship is long gone. Or perhaps there never was one..."

"You've studied the legends quite thoroughly, but nothing about the construction of Spear Pillar?" Jupiter asked him.

"Mt. Coronet is mentioned many times in the legends, but not Spear Pillar," Cyrus replied, then stretched out his arms. "Spear Pillar... hardly a fitting name for a place where the world will be reborn."

"An interesting claim, but that's as far as you go," a voice called out to them. Cyrus lowered his arms and circled around the helicopter, Jupiter and Mars hurrying to his side. Standing at the other end of Spear Pillar was Lucas, who had finally reached the summit. The lake pokemon Uxie floated behind him.

"Interesting. I expected a child to interfere, but you're quite as familiar to me as the other one," Cyrus said to Lucas. "And you've brought one of the lake pokemon with you, I see. Tell me, what is the name of the one who challenges me now?"

"Lucas."

"Well, Lucas, I am afraid you will not face me today," Cyrus said, then snapped his fingers. "Commanders, grunts, deal with this pest. Whoever he is, he could not possibly deal with all four of you. I will finish setting up here myself."

All four members of Team Galactic replied simultaneously. "Understood!" They then advanced toward Lucas while drawing a pokeball each.

Four on one... this might be a bit tricky, Lucas thought as he readied two pokeballs himself. As he prepared to send out his pokemon, he glanced over at Uxie. "Hope this isn't too demanding of a legendary pokemon I just met, but I might need your help with this one."

"-Of course. I have already anticipated this,-" Uxie replied, nodding. As the trainers got ready to battle, though, another voice cut the tension.

"HEY! Don't start the party without me, now!" Barry called out, dropping down next to Lucas while riding on the back of a particularly large, black-and-white bird. A blue-headed pixie floated down alongside him. Barry jumped off the bird pokemon's back and flashed Lucas a grin. "Hope you don't mind, but I have to get back at the purple haired one!"

"Makes things easier for me, though I didn't expect you to show up," Lucas said, nodding. Lucas then finally released his two pokemon while Barry reached for another pokeball. "Mags! Clefs! Go!" Lucas called out, releasing a magmortar and a clefable as his choice of pokemon.

"Munriko, Stariko, I choose you!" From the pokeball Barry had grabbed, a small, somewhat bear-like pokemon with a large mouth emerged. Stariko, already out of its pokeball, hopped up next to him with a quick flap of his wings.

"Looks like you left a few loose ends back at Lake Acuity, Jupiter," Mars said while releasing a bronzong to fight against Lucas and Barry's pokemon. Another bronzong then appeared next to her's.

"The same could be said for you. Last I checked, you're the only one to have lost a battle," Jupiter said to her. "The boy was only saved because a gym leader showed up at the last minute." Meanwhile, the two grunts sent out their own pokemon, a stunky and a croagunk.

"Well, I suppose this will be our chance to correct both our mistakes," Mars said.

"That much, I can agree on," Jupiter replied.

"Stariko! Munriko! We're not wasting any time here!" Barry yelled. "Stariko, attack Jupiter's bronzong with Close Combat! Munriko, use Body Slam on the croagunk!"

"Likewise, let's go on the offense, team!" Lucas said to his pokemon. "Mags, attack the other bronzong with Fire Blast! Clefs, attack the stunky with Meteor Mash!"

_So it begins,_ Cyrus mentally noted as Barry and Lucas's pokemon began to attack. _I have a feeling my commanders will not be winning this battle, but no matter..._ Cyrus turned to the equipment his grunts had retrieved from the helicopter. Computer equipment mounted on a wheeled platform, with a variety of electrodes and other devices.

_Mt. Coronet is surrounded by an unusual magnetic field. All that's left for me to do is to discover the exact point that field originates from. That spot is where I will use the red chain and remake the world._ Cyrus then began fiddling with the equipment while moving it around, searching for the origin point of Mt. Coronet's strange magnetic field.

Meanwhile, the battle between the two trainers and the remainder of Team Galactic kicked off as Lucas and Barry's pokemon delivered their attacks. The two bronzongs were struck first as the faster Stariko and Mags delivered their attacks. Mars's bronzong was struck by a fireball that exploded shortly after, knocking it out instantly just as it did earlier. The other bronzong stayed in the air, managing to endure the onslaught of claws, beak slashes, and wing smacks that Stariko delivered.

"Bronzong, Gyro Ball!" Jupiter called out. Her bronzong began spinning around, gaining momentum while Barry's Stariko kept attacking, then suddenly spun into Stariko with incredible force. Stariko was thrown back through the air and landed at Barry's feet. For a moment it looked like it was down and out, but then it slowly started to get back on its feet.

Recalling her own fallen bronzong, Mars quickly took out another pokeball and released her next pokemon. "Golbat! Go! Attack the fiery one with Poison Fang!" Golbat flew across the battlefield, getting in close to Mags before it could fire off another shot and biting down on its right arm. Mags grunted in pain and could feel the poison seeping into its body.

"Croagunk, counter with Poison Jab!" the male grunt called out as Barry's munchlax prepared to jump on it. The croagunk reared one hand back and then struck out at Munriko while he was descending toward it. A poison barb struck Munriko in the chest along with a powerful jab, but it did nothing to halt his descent. Munriko crashed down on the croagunk hard, knocking it out instantly as it was flattened under him.

"Stunky, Toxic!" the female grunt commanded, a hint of uncertainty in her voice. Her stunky turned around to fire the poisonous substance, only to have Clefs hit it first. The clefable barreled into the skunk pokemon, fist held out in front of him and a fiery aura around it like a meteor descending through the atmosphere. Stunky squealed in pain and was thrown across the Spear Pillar, almost hitting Cyrus's equipment.

"Watch where your pokemon are getting knocked to, please." Cyrus said quietly, glancing back over his shoulder. Already the battle was quite obviously in favor of the two young boys his group were fighting. The two grunts were already sending out their next pokemon. Another croagunk for the male and a glameow for the female.

"Mags, Thunderbolt. Clefs, another Meteor Mash, aim for the glameow," Lucas calmly commanded his pokemon. The situation with the two opponents he was going up against was completely under his control.

In a flash, electricity shot out from Mags body, hitting the bat pokemon that had decided to move in so close before it could even react. Electricity shot through its body and it let out an ear-piercing shriek before its body crumpled to the ground. Grimacing, Mars was forced to recall yet another pokemon without causing Lucas to even break a sweat.

Clefs was quick to move on to his next opponent as well. Using the momentum from his previous Meteor Mash, Clefs made a u-turn toward the newly released glameow. The glameow turned its head to the side. The last sight it witnessed was what looked like a meteor rushing toward it. Clefs' fist smashed into the glameow, throwing it almost to the eastern edge of the Spear Pillar. In one move it, too, was down and out. The grunt hurriedly recalled her pokemon.

"Who are these guys!" the female grunt said in shock, slowly backing away.

"Stariko, hang in there! Hit it again with Close Combat! Munriko, take this croagunk out the same way!" Barry called out, a grin plastered across his face. Though he wasn't creaming Team Galactic the way Lucas was, he couldn't help but feel like he was also in complete control over the situation.

Stariko immediately hopped back into the fray at Barry's command, eager to get back on the offense. Again it got in close and unleashed an all-out assault on the bronzong, beating the metal bell with his wings, claws, and beak. A loud, metal 'clang' rang out as Stariko struck with his beak one last time and Bronzong fell to the ground. It landed upright, but it was down and out.

"Croagunk! Poison Jab!" the male Galactic grunt called out, apparently not learning anything from his previously failed attack. Munriko jumped up into the air and the croagunk positioned itself underneath, lashing out with a perfectly timed jab to strike Munriko as he was falling back down. Again, the jab connected. Again, it ceased to halt Munriko's attack. Munriko came down on top of the croagunk with its full body weight. One thing was different this time, though. Neither pokemon was getting back up.

_We're getting torn apart too easily!_ Jupiter thought, glancing at her fellow Galactic members from the corner of her eye. Both grunts were out of the picture now. Mars down to her last pokemon. Jupiter down to two. And only one of the boys' pokemon had been defeated. As she recalled her bronzong and sent out her own golbat, a silent plea went through her mind. _Master Cyrus, please hurry!_

"Purugly, go!" Mars called out, releasing her final pokemon. Once her purugly had materialized from its pokeball, Mars wasted no time attacking. "Purugly, attack the fiery one with Hypnosis!"

"Not so fast! Clefs, Follow Me!" Lucas countered. Clefs immediately began making a ruckus and waving his hands around at his current location, distracting Purugly. Purugly immediately turned its attention on Clefs, rather than Mags, and it was Clefs that fell asleep due to the hypnotic energy waves as a result.

"What!" Mars cried out in shock and confusion.

"Mags, your turn! Finish this one in one move! Focus Blast!" Mags pointed its arm cannon at Purugly. A glowing orb formed near the tip, glowing brighter and brighter as Mags focused more energy into it. Finally releasing the energy, a massive beam fired out from Mags' arm cannon and blasted Purugly. Purugly tried to brace itself, but this only kept it from moving much. She was still knocked by the time the beam had subsided.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Mars growled. "We didn't even land a scratch on that brat's pokemon!"

_And that means it's just me now_, Jupiter thought, grimacing. She reached for her final pokeball while issuing a command to her golbat. "Golbat! Poison Fang! Attack his staraptor!" Jupiter's golbat moved swiftly, flying up to Stariko and biting him on the shoulder. Stariko let out an anguished cry and fell to the ground, unconscious. Barry quickly recalled both of his pokemon while Jupiter released a skuntank to join her golbat in battle.

"Definitely doing better this time around at least!" Barry said, grinning. Realizing it was just him and Jupiter now, he took a pokeball in each hand. "Okay then! Lucas, leave these two to me! Herariko! Inferiko! I choose you!" The two pokeballs opened up, releasing a powerfully built bug pokemon with a large horn and a lightly-armored monkey with fire for hair.

"Herariko, attack her Skuntank with Close Combat! Inferiko, attack the same! Focus Blast!

"Golbat, attack the heracross with Wing Attack! Skuntank, use Toxic on the infernape!"

Inferiko were able to make the first blow while Skuntank was aiming its tail. Herariko rushed in and delivered a series of hard punches at close range, leaving itself open to attack. Herariko then quickly moved to the side to avoid his partner's attack. Inferiko had gathered energy between his cupped hands and then thrust them forward, releasing a massive blast of energy at Skuntank. An explosion tore up the ground around it, leaving an unconscious Skuntank lying in a crater when it was over.

The attack didn't go without consequences, though. Herariko was still caught offguard when Jupiter's golbat made its move, circling around to come at Herariko from behind and strike the bug pokemon with both wings. Herariko cried out in pain from the sharp crack to its backside and collapsed. Flying-type attacks were already an achilles heel for the bug and fighting pokemon. Having its guard down only added to it.

"Well there's only one left now anyway!" Barry said, recalling his heracross and then pumping a fist into the air. "Inferiko, attack her golbat with Flamethrower now!"

"-Got it! I'll take this last one out, too!-" Inferiko said cheerfully, opening his mouth and unleashing a blast of flames at the bat pokemon. Golbat screeched as the flames engulfed it and quickly flew back as fast as it could to get out of the fire. Its wings and body were singed quite a bit by the time it reached Jupiter.

"Looks like Barry has this covered," Lucas said, then turned to Uxie. "Well, hope you're not too upset about not battling this lot."

"-It is quite fine with me,-" Uxie replied, nodding slightly. "-Afterall, I am a thinker, not a fighter. I can fight if need be but would prefer not to be directly involved.-"

"Fine by me," Lucas replied, then looked off toward Cyrus. He had something in his hand that reminded Lucas of a pokedex, only with two prongs on the end. "We should probably do something about that guy now since the only one stopping us is preoccupied with Barry."

Lucas began to move forward with Mags at his side, as well as Clefs when he finally woke up. Once he had reached where Mars and the female grunt were standing he stopped and turned to Mags. "Mags, stay here and watch these two. If they try anything funny... well... try not to inflict any grievous injuries on them." Mags nodded and grinned. Retracting both hands, the fire pokemon kept a cannon trained on each female as Lucas walked by.

"Damn it!" Mars growled. Now she was definitely not going to be of any help to Cyrus.

"Golbat, get back in there! Attack his infernape with Wing Attack!" Jupiter called out. Her golbat waited until the flames receded to fly toward Inferiko. It would never make it, though. Midway, the golbat was suddenly struck by a blast of psychic energy and dropped to the ground.

"-I hope you don't mind. I was getting a bit impatient and your friend and Uxie are already moving to confront their bastard of a leader,-" Azelf said to Barry.

"Eh..." Barry shrugged. "This still counts as my victory I guess, so whatever! Inferiko, keep an eye on the grunt and Jupiter!" Inferiko nodded and quickly moved toward them, flashing the two Galactics a grin. As Barry hurried to catch up with Lucas, he briefly stopped next to Jupiter.

"I wonder what happened there?" Barry flashed her a grin as well and folded his arms. "After all that gloating you did back at Lake Acuity I actually beat you pretty easily here."

"Don't get cocky, kid! Cyrus will mop the floor with you both!" Jupiter shot back.

"Two against one? I doubt it," Barry replied, then continued on to join Lucas. Between the two of them, Cyrus now had a clefable, Uxie, and Azelf standing behind him while he still seemed to be conducting research. In one hand he still held that strange device, in the other he held chain made from red crystals.

"Ah, here it is..." Cyrus said, the briefest of grins flickering across his usually emotionless face before he moved forward. At first he seemed to be ignoring the two boys. Approaching a spot on the ground that seemed to be causing the device in his hand to beep noisily, he put the chain down and formed it into a circle. Only after doing this did he finally turn to address the two boys.

"I'm afraid you're too late to try to stop me," he said. "I have already won."

Before either boy could protest, the red chain suddenly began to glow and rise into the air. It remained perfectly arranged in a circle as it rose up and started to spin. The area inside the chain turned black and small bolts of electricity shot out from the vortex. Cyrus stood unfazed, but the boys and their pokemon were forced back.

"What the heck!" Lucas growled.

"-It is too late,-" Uxie intoned grimly. "-The summoning cannot be stopped now. We can only hope to contain them when they arrive.-"

"Them?" Lucas asked.

Before Uxie could answer, a blinding light shone out from the red chain, blinding everyone on Spear Pillar. The cries of two immensely powerful pokemon could be heard, long before they could be seen. When they finally could be seen, Lucas and Barry gasped. Two imposing figures were slowly floating down on either side of Cyrus, a red glowing ring around the necks of both of them. The red chain itself still hovered in the air, spinning around. It was obviously maintaining control over the two pokemon.

To the right of Cyrus stood a white and pink pokemon that resembled a lizard with an elongated neck, a pair of small, useless-looking wings, and large, circular shoulders that appeared to have pearls embedded in them. The creature was imposing in height, standing almost twice as tall as Cyrus. Its claw-tipped hands could have easily sliced the man from head to toe, but from its gaze and expression it almost seemed submissive instead.

The other pokemon seemed to resemble a dinosaur. It stood on four legs and also had an elongated neck and tail. Parts of its body had metallic spines or plating, with a particularly large, gear-like plate jutting along its back. The plating on the front of its body held a bluish gem. From head to toe, it stood even taller than Palkia, easily close to eighteen feet tall. It could have stepped on Cyrus and reduced him to a pancake. And yet, this pokemon also seemed to be awaiting commands from him.

"At long last..." Cyrus spread out his arms as he addressed the two pokemon before him. "Palkia... Dialga... with your powers over space and time... hear my command. End this world and allow me to create a new one. A new world, without spirit..."

The two legendary pokemon, Palkia and Dialga, roared simultaneously. Thanks to the red chain, they were completely under Cyrus's command. The gemstones on their bodies began to glow as the two focused their powers. The result was almost unnoticeable at first, a black dot forming in the air. That dot began to expand and loose objects began to get pulled toward it, seemingly being turned to spaghetti and pulled inside as the dot continued to expand.

"What the heck is that thing!" Barry yelled in shock. The ends of his scarf were already extending out toward the hole in the air, though Barry himself could still only barely feel that power pulling on him. Cyrus, of course, seemed to be completely unaffected.

"-Damn it! Where the hell is Mesprit!-" Azelf growled. "-We could really use some help here!-"

"-Yes, if we had Mesprit, we could try to defuse this situation but...-" Uxie frowned. Or at least, its face creased slightly. Its eyes were never open anyway. "-I just have this bad feeling it may not work...-"

"-We need to at least try!-" a voice called out as the third pixie, Mesprit, quickly approached the two. Lucas and Barry looked back when they heard Mesprit, only to see Dawn running to catch up with them.

"Oh, hey, glad to see you didn't start the doomsday event without me!" Dawn said sarcastically. "Seriously, you guys couldn't hold this off? By the way, what are those pokemon and what's that..." Before Dawn could even finish her sentence, her hat flew off her head and disappeared into the black hole with the same spaghetti-effect as the rest of the random debris being pulled in. "Hey! My hat!"

"We're trying to figure that out ourselves," Lucas muttered. Seeing what happened to Dawn's hat, he immediately placed a hand on his beret. There was no way he was giving that up so easily.

"-It won't be a concern much longer!-" Azelf said, narrowing its eyes. "-Uxie! Mesprit! Let's go!-" Azelf then flew off toward the two larger legendary pokemon before moving off to the right. Mesprit and Uxie soon followed, Mesprit moving to the left of the two, and Uxie positioning itself behind them. Once all three lake pokemon were in position, they began to channel their power between each other and a barrier formed around the two legendary pokemon and Cyrus. The effect of the blackhole immediately subsided.

"As expected, the lake pokemon are attempting to halt the world's destruction," Cyrus said. "However..." After only a few seconds, the pull of that blackhole could be felt again. Struggle though they might, the three pixies could only seem to weaken the power of Palkia and Dialga. "The pokemon of the lake are able to balance the power of either of the legendary pokemon. Since I have summoned both, they are powerless to stop this."

"Well, guess that didn't work." Barry rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and looked at the other two trainers. "Anyone got a decent Plan B? Or were we banking on this?"

With the events transpiring at the Spear Pillar now, the rest of Team Galactic had already fled into the mountain in fear, leaving only the three trainers and their pokemon with Cyrus. However, after the failed attempt by the three pixies to stop the pokemon, another individual appeared on the mountain. On top of the cave entrance to Mt. Coronet, a vortex opened and Dusk stepped out.

"Well isn't this quite the mess..." she muttered. "I can certainly see what you meant by what you said before now, about wanting to keep me around for this..."

"_I did not believe their plan had any chance of success originally, otherwise we could have intervened earlier,"_ a voice said in her mind. "_However, now is not the time for looking back. Dusk, this is something I must settle myself. I take it you know what to do?"_

"Of course." Dusk smirked and retrieved the amber-colored orb from her cloak. By now, that cloak was being pulled forward, as if gravity was starting to shift. Even the orb rocked slightly as she set it down on the ground. Noticing this, Dusk frowned and looked toward the blackhole forming in the air.

"It's getting worse by the second... we don't have much time," she said. Turning her gaze back to the orb, she focused and clasped her hands together. "That which lies in another place, beyond the realm of time and space, come forth from the shadows and return to this mortal realm!" As she finished, she extended her hand toward the orb. "GIRATINA!"

And with that last word, shadows suddenly engulfed the orb and it seemingly disappeared. The shadows, however, did not. Unimpeded, a large shadow moved across the spear pillar, under the feet of all those present until it stopped between Cyrus and the pokemon of time and space. Cyrus didn't notice it at first, but then a shadowy, serpent-like figure began to rise from the shadows.

"What's this?" Cyrus raised an eyebrow at the figure that had suddenly appeared before him. Whatever it was, it appeared only as a shadowy creature until the glowing red eyes and mouth appeared. The creature then spread a pair of demonic wings and looked down at Cyrus.

"So it seems there is a pokemon that can appear only as a shadow..." Cyrus muttered. "However, I will allow nothing else to interfere..."

Cyrus only barely finished speaking as the shadow dove toward him and darkness surrounded the two. Cyrus's final word was twisted, the final sound from his mouth repeating like a broken record until finally the darkness dispersed, leaving only a swirling vortex in its wake. The red chain that had been floating in the air until then was gone too, freeing the two legendary pokemon from its control. Though they seemed confused by their current predicament, the blackhole had at least vanished.

With all that had happened, the three trainers could only blink in confusion. In a matter of seconds the rather dire situation they were in had suddenly been diffused. By what? No one there seemed to be sure. Eventually, though, Dawn happened to glance down at the vortex on the ground and gasped.

That... that vortex! Isn't that the same as the one Dusk uses! Dawn grimaced and considered her next move for a moment... before suddenly rushing toward it and jumping into the vortex.

"What the... DAWN!" Lucas called out after her.

"What the heck does that girl think she's doing! She doesn't know where that thing goes!" Barry added, clenching a fist.

"-DAWN!-" It would seem the vortex would claim at least one more as well. Letting out a sudden cry, the pink-headed lake pokemon dove in after Dawn, disappearing into the vortex.

"So... uh..." Barry looked at Lucas with a confused expression. "Do we go after them?" he asked. Lucas didn't immediately respond, only watched the vortex on the ground. To his surprise, it suddenly started to shrink.

"If we're doing something we need to act now!" Barry said, no longer waiting for Lucas. He moved toward the vortex, but was startled and fell back as a blonde-haired woman riding a white, plane-like pokemon dove in. The time Barry was on the ground was just enough for the vortex to close entirely, leaving just the two of them with the pokemon of time and space on Spear Pillar.

Finally reaching his limit, Barry clutched his head and yelled in frustration. "Just what the heck is going on here!"

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, I'm sure there's not a whole lot in this chapter that really comes as a surprise. Same event from the games, only with a few twists of my own, some of which had been pretty much hinted at anyway. Though, one might notice that unlike in the games, only Mesprit went into the Torn World and Palkia and Dialga are still on Spear Pillar. That'll become relevant later.

Hmm. A pokemon with control over time, and a pokemon with control over space. I bet if you combined their powers you'd have the perfect maid.


	38. Chapter 38: The Torn World

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 38**

**The Torn World**

"This... is this the kind of place Dusk has been all this time?" Dawn wondered as she looked around her new surroundings. The place Dawn found herself in defied explanation. From where she stood, she appeared to be standing on a small floating island. It was barren aside from a single weed growing in the corner.

Yet, above, around her, Dawn could see more islands such as the one she stood on. These particular islands were floating at peculiar angles. Some were vertical in relation to her, some seemed to be upside down. Crazier still was the water. Waterfalls ran on all sorts of odd angles and some of the floating islands had small pools of water as well, irregardless of the angle they were on. It was as if gravity was completely meaningless in this place. On one particular island she could see...

"Cyrus..." Dawn muttered, clenching a fist. The fact that he was walking upside down relative to her didn't even register. The man seemed as confused about his surroundings as Dawn, looking around at the unfamiliar terrain. He seemed to notice Dawn and focused his gaze on her for a moment. Cyrus seemed to say something to hear, but Dawn heard nothing. Cyrus then turned his attention elsewhere.

"Damn it... he's all the way over there, and I'm over here!" Dawn grumbled. "How the heck am I supposed to get there?" She blinked and then added, "How am I supposed to get ANYWHERE here!"

"-I can show you the way!-" a voice said, followed by Mesprit floating down next to her. "-I don't know where we are but... I can feel that time and space don't flow here,-" Mesprit said to Dawn. "-In other words, time passes abnormally relative to the real world. Sometimes faster, sometimes slower. And spacial dimensions aren't what they appear to be either.-"

"In other words, if I head up, I could end up going in a completely different direction?" Dawn asked.

"-Something like that,-" Mesprit replied, nodding.

Dawn looked off toward where Cyrus was again. "I wonder if that's why I can't hear Cyrus even though he doesn't look so far away that I wouldn't be able to?" After thinking this out loud, she looked back to Mesprit. "By the way, what was that pokemon we saw?-"

Mesprit sighed and shook its head. "-I don't know. I feel as if I should know, its power feels familiar, and yet I cannot figure out what or who we are dealing with.-"

"But you can find your way around here in spite of not knowing that?" Dawn asked with a hint of skepticism in her voice.

"-I'm sensitive to fluctuations in time and space, I will be able to find my way around because of that,-" Mesprit explained.

"Great." Dawn pointed toward Cyrus. "Let's find the way to go after him then."

"Hold it!" a voice suddenly called out. With little warning, Dawn found herself aware of two individuals appearing behind her. One a pokemon, one a human. Of course, she didn't even have to look back to realize who had arrived. She still recognized the voice. Cynthia had finally arrived, still mounted on her togekiss.

"Seems I got here just in time," Cynthia said to Dawn, jumping off her pokemon. Dawn and Mesprit turned to face her, both with curious expressions.

"Cynthia? What are you doing here?" Dawn asked her.

"What else?" Cynthia flashed her a smile. "I'm here to lend you my support, if need be."

"Oh, good!" Dawn grinned. "I don't suppose you have any medicine on you, then? My pokemon are kinda beat..."

* * *

"I can't believe Dawn just dove into that portal thing without even knowing where it goes," Barry mumbled, placing his hands behind his head. "As of today, she loses any right to call me reckless!"

"You're still reckless, she's just moreso all of a sudden," Lucas pointed out. "Anyway, nevermind that for now, shouldn't we worry about these two?" he said, jerking his thumb toward Palkia and Dialga. The two legendary pokemon still stood with the trainers atop Mt. Coronet, confused expressions on their faces as they looked around at their unfamiliar surroundings.

"Sure, they're not doing anything now, but should they really be here?" Lucas asked. "What's keeping them from going back to wherever it is they came from?"

"-We should try asking them,-" Uxie suggested, then turned to Dialga. "-Excuse me, oh master of time, but for what reason is it that you and the master of space are among us?"

"-We are just as confused as you,-" Dialga replied in a booming voice. To Lucas and Barry, it only sounded like a roar. "-We know only that a human was able to control us shortly after we were pulled here, but it feels as though something is still keeping us here.-" When Dialga finished speaking, Uxie passed on the message.

"So they're stuck and they don't know why..." Lucas mumbled, nodding to himself. "I guess we need to figure out why and fix it then."

"Unless our pokemon could fix it somehow, I don't think we can help them," Barry said, then let out a sigh. "And I can't think of anything our pokemon would be able to do that these guys couldn't."

"We'll figure something out," Lucas assured him.

While Lucas and Barry were debating what to do, a disembodied voice suddenly called out. _"Dialga... Palkia..." _the voice said. Dialga and Palkia suddenly stood at attention. _"The humans have performed a great injustice to you, and to all pokemon who inhabit this planet. Therefore, heed my command: eliminate all humans. This is my judgement, and you shall carry it out in my place."_

"-UNDERSTOOD!-" Palkia and Dialga roared in agreement. Azelf and Uxie looked at the two in confusion, then noticed they were charging their attacks. Palkia raised one massive arm, claws and pearls giving off a faint pink glow. But its movements seemed to be slowed as Dialga also gathered power, the diamond on its chest and gear on its back giving off a blue glow.

"-LO... OK... OUT!-" Azelf cried out, the time effect causing its voice to sound as if it were calling out in slow motion. Azelf and Uxie were already trying to move in front of their respective trainers before either realized what was going on.

Dialga's attack came first, the pokemon letting out a roar and firing a large blast of energy from its mouth. Slightly trailing it was Palkia's attack. Palkia slashed at the air with its glowing claws, causing a ripple that sent out a large, blade-shaped blast of energy following the energy released by Dialga. Uxie and Azelf's forehead gems began to glow as they countered with their psychic powers, managing to form a weaker version of the barrier they tried to use to seal Palkia and Dialga. Their barrier protected Lucas and Barry from Dialga's attack, but Palkia's attack smashed the barrier with such force that all four of them were blown back.

"Man... what the hell hit us..." Barry groaned, slowly sitting up from where he had landed. Realizing what had happened, he looked toward Dialga and Palkia only to see Palkia was already charging for another attack. "D-damn it! HIT THE DECK!" Barry yelled, quickly ducking down.

Realizing their trainers were in danger, Inferiko, Mags, and Clefs quickly positioned themselves in front of them. When the next energy wave came at them, the three pokemon took the attack themselves and were able to withstand it by bracing each other against it. Only Mags even seemed staggered by the energy that washed over him.

"Looks like this is getting to be too much for Mags..." Lucas muttered to himself. "Nevermind that though... why did those two suddenly attack us!"

"-Ask questions later!-" Azelf yelled, joining the other three pokemon in front of the trainers. "-They're ready for another combination attack!-" Nodding in agreement, Uxie quickly joined them while Palkia and Dialga were charging for their next attack.

"Damn it!" Lucas grumbled. "Just when I thought we had things under control!"

* * *

Even with Mesprit as their guide, trekking through the torn world was a disorienting experience. Mesprit would lead the two girls to what seemed like a dead end, at the end of one of the floating islands. Then, suddenly, rocks would materialize in the air, forming a bridge to the next floating island. The rock bridge would disappear by the time they had reached their destination. On top of oddities like that, they couldn't help feeling like they were being watched.

"This place is pretty creepy..." Dawn muttered. "Just where ARE we anyway? Do you have any idea, Cynthia?"

"I have one theory," Cynthia replied. "I believe this is a world that exists alongside our own and maintains balance. Though I cannot recall its name, the caretaker of this world was likely angered by Cyrus's attempt to destroy the other world."

_Whoever that caretaker is, Dusk must be working for it. That'd explain the source of her powers and why she has access to the energy of a legendary pokemon_, Dawn thought. "Then why did it leave that vortex open I wonder?" she then asked Cynthia.

"I don't know, but it was closing by the time I came through," Cynthia replied. "Speaking of which, why was it you came here? And so readily, at that?"

"Partially because I want to see what's in here, partially because I really want to kick Cyrus's butt all over this weird world." Dawn looked around when she had finished speaking again, looking for Cyrus. From the island they were on, though, he didn't seem to be anywhere in sight.

"-You will get your wish shortly, then,-" Mesprit said as it lead the girls to the end of the landmass they were currently on. Again, it seemed as though they had reached a dead end, but then several chunks of rock suddenly materialized to form another small square of land floating in the air. "-This one will move up when we step on it. Cyrus is directly above us.-"

"He hasn't moved, then?" Dawn asked. Mesprit shook its head. "Wonder what he's up to then..."

_Dawn seems to have certainly become quite the interesting young girl_, Cynthia mused. The two girls stepped onto the platform, which then began to move up just as Mesprit said it would. _To think, she's already befriended a legendary pokemon and is now on her way to face the leader of a criminal organization. I wonder how this will play out for her?_

The moving platform came to a halt when it reached another floating land mass almost directly above the one they were just on. Dawn was the first to get off, quickly moving onto the new floating island and taking a pokeball in her hand. On the other side of the island, hands folded behind his back and looking as if he had been waiting for them, was Cyrus.

"Your tenacity is astounding, to chase after me even here," Cyrus said to Dawn, then noticed Cynthia stepping off the platform behind her. "And you brought the champion with you. However, it makes no difference. I will end this here." With a snap of his fingers, a pokemon suddenly rushed out from behind Cyrus in a blur of motion.

"-Dawn! Watch out!-" Mesprit called out and then quickly began focusing its psychic powers. It was no use, though. The pokemon speeding toward them didn't even slow down from the psychic blast Mesprit launched at it.

The pokemon moving to attack would never reach Dawn regardless, though. Just as it was drawing closer, it was suddenly thrown back by a powerful physical blow. The attacker was revealed to be a blue-furred pokemon with large, sharp claws and a red crest behind its neck. The would-be assassin wasn't getting back up, either.

"I knew you were going to try something like that from the way you were concealing your pokemon," Dawn said to Cyrus. In the time it had taken Cyrus's pokemon to reach her, she had released Ryu from his pokeball to intercept the attack. The small fighting-type pokemon stood panting now with one hand stretched out, the same hand it had used to strike Cyrus's pokemon.

Seeing his pokemon defeated, Cyrus raised an eyebrow. "Your capability is... surprising, to say the least. How ever did you know my Weavile was ready to attack you?"

"I could sense your pokemon's aura from the moment I got here," Dawn replied while taking another pokeball in her hand. She wanted to be ready if Cyrus tried anymore tricks. "I was waiting for you to make your move, and then released Ryu here to take it out with Reversal."

_She can sense aura, too?_ Cynthia smirked and folded her arms. _Quite the interesting young trainer, indeed..._

"By the way, because of the way you've sealed away your emotions, you don't seem to actually give off an aura," Dawn said to Cyrus. "See, that's what pisses me off about you. That you're able to give such an awe-inspiring speech, even if it's a lie, and yet be so dead inside." Dawn dramatically pointed a finger at him. "I'll dispose of a walking corpse like you with little trouble at all!"

"-And I will gladly assist her!-" Ryu added. "-I, too, can sense the unnatural way in which you keep your own aura from flowing. It makes me sick. It will bring me great pleasure to aid in your defeat!-"

"And do you truly expect me ot fight fairly?" Cyrus asked her. "Since you're still alive, no doubt you understand now what lengths I will go to in order to make my dream a reality. To expect me to play by the rules this far into the game is foolishness."

"Now if I may interject, I would like to say that as Champion of Sinnoh's Elite Four, I will be ensuring that the official league rules are followed in this battle," Cynthia said, waving to Cyrus. "If you have a problem with that, you can tell it to my Garchomp. To put it another way; if you don't want to fight Dawn fairly, you can fight me unfairly."

After she spoke, Cynthia reached for a pokeball and then held it out to release her garchomp from its pokeball. The blue, shark-like dragon pokemon that emerged stood at almost seven feet tall, much taller than the only other garchomp Dawn had seen. Cynthia then flashed Cyrus a smile and said, "And I don't think you want to fight me, fairly or otherwise." The garchomp let out a low growl, making its own threat against Cyrus.

Cyrus narrowed his eyes at her. "So be it. Why should I have to run and hide from the world and have to wait quietly?" Cyrus took out a pokeball to recall his Weavile, then put it away and took another pokeball in his hand.

"My aim is to rid our world of the vague and incomplete thing we call spirit. By freeing ourselves of that, our world can be made complete. That is my justice, and from this point on no one shall interfere with that justice ever again." Cyrus punctuated the end of his speech by releasing his pokemon, a demonic looking canine pokemon. It growled when it appeared and a thick, black smog seeped out from the corners of its mouth.

"Okay, Ryu! Go for it!" Dawn called out, urging her pokemon forward. Ryu nodded and charged toward Cyrus's pokemon.

"What a futile move," Cyrus commented. "Houndoom, it has little strength. Flamethrower will finish it." Houndoom nodded and then opened its mouth, releasing a blast of flames into Ryu's path.

"Ryu! Endure it!" Dawn called out. Ryu skidded to a stop just as the flames started to surround him and crossed his arms defensively. The flames engulfed him and seared his body. In spite of the intense pain that wracked his body, Ryu endured. When Houndoom finally stopped to breathe, he was still standing.

"Ryu! Now! Quick Attack and Reversal!" In a flash, Ryu shot toward Houndoom and struck it in the jaw before it could unleash another Flamethrower. Houndoom turned its head to attack again, but this time it was met by a two-handed smash to the head by Ryu. Houndoom yelped and staggered back, moving as if it were drunk, and then suddenly collapsed.

_That's two taken down by a weakened riolu, I'm already way ahead of the game!_ Dawn thought, a smirk crossing her lips. _I can pull off another win like that with at least one more pokemon, too, I bet! And if there's one Mesprit would be strong against..._

"It seems I have greatly underestimated you. Already, two of my pokemon are defeated," Cyrus said as he recalled Houndoom. He didn't seem bothered much by this, though, and took another pokeball in his hand to release his next pokemon. "Were it not for the champion aiding you, I would simply use my next pokemon's speed to end this once and for all. Instead, I will see it end your riolu." Cyrus then released his pokemon and Ryu found himself staring up at a purple, four-winged bat pokemon.

"Ryu, that's enough. Return!" Dawn said, recalling riolu. The little fighting pokemon had managed to defeat two of Cyrus's pokemon, and he was quite satisfied with that now. Dawn didn't send out a replacement pokemon, though, and instead turned to Mesprit. "Mesprit, you up for taking out one of this guy's pokemon?" she asked it.

"-Like you need to ask!-" Mesprit replied, then quickly floated out in front of Dawn.

"An interesting choice, but you seem to forget how easily these lake pokemon were captured," Cyrus said to Dawn. "Crobat, you may begin with Toxic so we may slowly wear it down." Cyrus's pokemon opened its mouth and flew forward a bit, then spat out a purple blob of poison.

"Mesprit, Protect!" Dawn quickly called out. Mesprit's forehead gem flashed and a blue, transparent bubble formed around it. The poison splattered against the bubble and drifted to the ground harmlessly.

"Now! Fire back with Extrasensory!" Mesprit dropped its barrier and focused. Its forehead gem glowed again and a wave of psychic energy shot out from Mesprit's body. When it reached Crobat, the bat pokemon seemed to be pulled in every direction by the psychic force, causing the pokemon to screech in pain from the feeling of its body being stretched. When the wave passed, it collapsed to the ground but almost immediately was trying to push itself up.

_I may have underestimated this one a bit_, Cyrus thought. _The combat abilities of the legendary pokemon meant nothing to me, so I paid them little attention. Mesprit's strength and type alignment is clear to me now, however it has already cost me a pokemon._

"Let's finish this one, now! Confusion!" Dawn called out. Mesprit focused and another blast of psychic energy was released. This time a blue glow washed over Crobat's body and the force threw it back. Crobat landed on its backside and remained there, unmoving, until Cyrus recalled it.

"I will finish your legendary pokemon with this one," Cyrus said. Holding out another pokeball, he released a black feathered bird pokemon with head feathers that made it look like it was wearing a hat. The pokemon had a mean look in its eyes and a confident stance that seemed to demand respect.

"A dark-type bird, obviously," Dawn muttered to herself. "We won't back down that easily, though. Mesprit, use Ice Beam!" Mesprit's forehead gem glowed and a blue beam fired out from it, striking the bird pokemon in its white chest feathers. Ice formed over the pokemon's chest and wings, then soon shattered. The pokemon tried to retain its composure while enduring the ice shattering, but Dawn could tell from its aura that it had been weakened quite a bit.

"An ice-type technique. You surprise me," Cyrus said to Dawn. "But it matters not. Honchkrow, Night Slash." Honchkrow flapped its wings and flew toward Mesprit. It came in slightly to Mesprit's right side and then shot forward with a burst of speed at the last second that caught Mesprit off guard. Honchkrow's wing felt more like a blade when it hit, knocking Mesprit to the ground. Mesprit took quite a hard hit, but was soon floating back into the air to continue its fight.

"-That hurt... but it's nothing compared to what I went through at the lab...-" Mesprit muttered, wincing as it recalled the pain it endured back then.

"I taught it that technique using a TM back at Mt. Coronet," Dawn said. "Mesprit, use it one more time!" Mesprit quickly turned to face Honchkrow and fired another Ice Beam from its gem. The beam struck Honchkrow from behind as it was facing away from Mesprit at the time. The beam struck it in the back and ice began to form over its body. Honchkrow tried to turn and spread its wings, but its wings were already coated in ice by then. When the ice shattered, Honchkrow squawked in pain and dropped onto its side.

"Down to my last pokemon..." Cyrus muttered, recalling his Honchkrow. As he gripped his pokemon's pokeball in his hand, Dawn felt the briefest flicker of an aura from the cold emptiness that surrounded him.

_What was that I felt just now?_ Dawn wondered, then smirked. _I wonder if Cyrus is starting to get a bit angry, and what would happen if I egged him on a bit?_

"I'm just one win away from crushing your dream once and for all, Cyrus!" Dawn yelled to him. "Once I defeat your last pokemon, there's nowhere for you to go! Nowhere for you to run to in here, and nowhere for you to hide! Cynthia will be taking you in once this is over. Then you'll spend the rest of your life sealed away, a god of your one ten by ten cell."

"Silence!" Cyrus barked. Dawn felt that small flicker of an aura again. "I will not lose! Not in our world, not in this shadow world, not in ANY worthless world!" Cyrus clenched his fists tightly. "I will find that shadow pokemon here and make it do my biding! With it under my command, I will destabilize this world and bring about the destruction of both worlds! Then..."

Dawn waved her hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, new world without spirit, blah, blah, blah," she said, cutting him off. "Look, you have one pokemon left. I have SEVEN. And I'm pretty confident I'll beat your last pokemon with only one more anyway."

Cyrus narrowed his eyes at her. "Is that so? Then let's see how you deal with my final pokemon." Cyrus took his final pokeball in his hand and then pressed the button to release his pokemon. What appeared on the darkened soil of the floating island was a great serpent, its blue, scaled body coiling to support itself. Its massive head turned to Dawn and let out a mighty roar. Cyrus's final pokemon was a Gyarados. Dawn didn't even bat an eye.

"Mesprit, I'm going to ask you to stand back for this one," Dawn said. Mesprit looked at her curiously for a moment, but then nodded and floated back behind her. Gripping the pokeball she had held in her hand from the start, the one she planned to use if Cyrus tried anymore sneak attacks, Dawn pressed the button. A red beam shot out and Bowser materialized before her.

"Recognize this pokemon, Cyrus?" Dawn asked him, gesturing toward Bowser with one hand. "Since you were watching me and Mesprit that day, no doubt you saw me with a turtwig. That turtwig's grown a lot since then, and it's one of my most reliable pokemon. His name is Bowser, and he'll be the only pokemon your Gyarados will fight."

Bowser grinned at the praise. "-Aw, shucks! You'd be making me blush if I could!-"

"We shall see about that, then! Gyarados, Ice Fang!" Gyarados roared and lunged toward Bowser, baring its fangs. As Gyarados neared, frost seemed to form in its mouth and its fangs became coated in ice.

"Bowser, Curse!" Bowser began drawing out a dark power on Dawn's command, slowing his body movement to increase strength and endurance. Gyarados bit down on him before he could finish increasing his defense, but the effect the ice-covered fangs had on him was already reduced a bit.

"Two can play at that game." Cyrus said in response to Dawn's ability boosting. "Gyarados, Dragon Dance!" Gyarados drew back and let out a mighty roar, drawing out a mystic power from within. An orange aura surrounded it as that power became active.

"That's what you think! Bowser, Leech Seed!" With one shake of his body, Bowser launched a seed at the serpent coiled in front of him. The seed landed on its body and sprouted small vines to latch on. Almost immediately the effects were felt. The seed drained away the serpent's energy while restoring Bowser's. Dawn then shot Cyrus a grin. "So! Wanna keep boosting your power now?"

"Hmph. You're quite the pest," Cyrus replied, narrowing his eyes at Dawn. "Gyarados, Dragon Dance once more and then launch into a Giga Impact." Gyarados drew out more power, the orange glow remaining around it. Gyarados then began to slowly rise into the air, its long body beginning to curl into a ball.

When the glowing faded, Gyarados launched itself down at Bowser at full force. The impact shook and cracked the ground, fissures from the impact forming all the way to where Dawn was standing. When Gyarados rolled off, Bowser was seen burried up to its chest in the darkened soil. However, in spite of such a devastating blow, Bowser's eyes were still open. He was still in the fight, though it was obvious he was in a lot of pain.

"I-impossible!" Cyrus said, reeling back in utter shock. "After taking an attack of that magnitude..."

"Nice try, but you aren't the first to underestimate just how much Bowser can withstand!" Dawn said to Cyrus. Of course, even she was at least a little surprised by Bowser's tenacity. Even so, she maintained her composure and called out her next attack, having noticed the way the bushes on Bowser's back seemed to have grown. "Okay, Bowser! This is it! End it all with Seed Bomb!"

"-Even if I can't seem to move from this spot, I can still attack with this!-" Bowser said, then launched several seeds from his mouth. Gyarados slowly raised its head to look back, but felt the attack before it saw it. The seeds spat by Bowser rained down all along Gyarados's body and explosions riddled its length. Gyarados roared in pain as the seeds exploded against it, only to be silenced by one final seed connecting square between its eyes and exploding. Its head dropped to the ground like a sack of bricks.

"You..." Cyrus growled and clenched his fists. "So you managed to beat me... well good for you. But if the Champion hadn't been here, it would have..."

"Turned out exactly the same, only with you trying to attack me instead of my pokemon," Dawn interjected. "Incase you've forgotten, you DID try that approach, but I saw it coming thanks to my aura sensing. If you tried anything else, I would have just sent out more pokemon, countering each attempt until I defeated your's. Which would have been easy since you'd be so busy focusing on me."

"Well, I suppose she has a point there," Cynthia said, then shrugged. "Of course, complaining about the way things turned out is pointless, don't you think? You can't change what happened here today any easier than you can create that new world you keep talking about. This world of spirit that you loathe so much won't be so easily crushed."

"Enough!" Cyrus barked. Raising a pokeball, he recalled his unconscious Gyarados. "My plan will not be defeated so easily. Think what you will, but I am not done here." Cyrus then turned and moved to the edge of the floating island. No rocks, no platforms appeared in the air. There was nothing beyond the edge and, yet, Cyrus took one last step forward...

"What the... what the hell are you doing!" Dawn yelled and bolted after him. Cyrus dropped off the edge of the floating island they were on and, by the time Dawn had reached that edge, was gone. Vanished into the dark abyss that surrounded them.

"He's a fool if he thinks he can escape like that, up and down are entirely relative," Cynthia said, calmly shrugging. "I get the feeling that we won't have to worry about him anymore..."

"You're right I guess..." Dawn mumbled, then sat back and let out a sigh. "Not knowing is going to bug me, but I guess he wouldn't be able to find his way around this place anyway..."

"Still, that was quite the impressive battle," Cynthia said to her. Her garchomp, meanwhile, had moved to help Bowser. Gripping Bowser's shell in one hand it easily hoisted him up out of the ground. "You've become quite strong in such a short time..."

"About that..." Dawn looked back at Cynthia. "Why didn't you want to battle him? I thought for sure you were going to tell me to stand aside and let you handle it..."

Cynthia shrugged. "I wasn't interested in fighting him, and you had the situation handled anyway," she said, then smiled. "Aside from that... there's someone else here I'd much prefer to battle."

"Huh?" Dawn blinked and thought for a moment. "Wait! You don't mean..."

"Yes," Cynthia nodded to her. "I'd like a chance to battle the shadow pokemon that resides here." As Cynthia finished speaking, a long mass of land suddenly formed at the end of their floating island, stretching on for hundreds of feet ahead of them. "Ah, and it seems we might have gotten an invitation..."

"Well what are we waiting for!" Dawn said excitedly, quickly standing up. She was eager to see Cynthia battling this pokemon now herself. "Bowser! Mesprit! Let's go! That shadowy pokemon is waiting for us!" Bowser and Mesprit nodded and quickly ran to catch up to Dawn, moving alongside her when she started off down the new 'bridge' that had appeared.

"She seems quite exciteable," Cynthia said, then looked to her garchomp. "Well, shall we get moving then? I'm sure you're as eager for this fight as I am." Garchomp nodded and the two of them tried to move forward, but found themselves unable to. Feeling the air in front of her, Cynthia noticed what felt like an invisible wall.

"...or not." Cynthia stepped back and let out a sigh. "Seems the shadow pokemon has its own plan. I hope she'll be okay on her own..." Cynthia then looked ahead in silence, watching as Dawn ran across the land bridge, blissfully unaware that Cynthia wasn't following behind her.

* * *

Outside on Mt. Coronet, things were going from bad to worse for Lucas and Barry. Dialga and Palkia's attacks were unrelenting. Their combined attacks would easily break through their defenses, and Palkia's follow-up attack would hit their pokemon unhindered. Lucas and Barry's pokemon did the best they could, taking the hits from Palkia so Azelf and Uxie could defend against Dialga.

As the fight dragged on, though, something was slowly becoming clear. It became even clearer as yet another pink wave struck their pokemon. Mags, Clefs, and Inferiko went down. None of them got back up, and the two legendary pokemon were quickly readying their next attack.

"Damn it!" Lucas growled, reaching for another pokeball. This isn't good! We're completely on the defensive here, if our line breaks... Lucas's thoughts were interrupted as the ground suddenly started to shake violently.

"Oh, what NOW!" Barry cried out. The shaking was intensifying as Palkia and Dialga charged their attacks. Time seemed to slow down, but that didn't make the events that followed any easier for the two boys to understand.

In slow motion, the ground under Dialga began to crack in a rather large circle. A giant pair of claws burst through first, followed by the body of the red, lizard-like creature they were attached to. The pokemon shot up, its loud roar echoing through the air. It slammed into Dialga's underside, eliciting a startled cry from the legendary pokemon as it was suddenly tossed aside by the impact. Time began to flow normally again with Dialga's attack interrupted and the new arrival pulled itself up out of the ground.

Seeing the newly arrived pokemon attack Dialga, Palkia quickly turned and raised a claw back to make its own attack against the pokemon. The red pokemon wasn't done yet, though, and turned to meet Palkia's attack. As Palkia made a downward slash, claws distorting the fabric of reality, the opposing pokemon brought its own claws up toward Palkia with an orange glow surrounding them.

A pink wave of energy shot out from the distorted space, but not before the red pokemon was able to strike Palkia in the lower jaw with its claws. Palkia cried out in pain and was thrown onto its back. Meanwhile, the energy from Palkia's Spacial Rend cut across the red pokemon's shoulder, causing it to growl in pain and stagger back.

"That... that thing just..." Barry, for once in his life, was at a loss for words. By this point, not only were both of Sinnoh's legendary pokemon knocked for a loop, the area felt like it was suddenly becoming much, much warmer. The sunlight shining down upon them seemed much more intense with the red pokemon's arrival.

"That would be Groudon, a legendary pokemon from Hoenn," Lucas said. Barry turned to him in shock when what Lucas had said finally sunk in. "I believe that means the cavalry's arrived."

Another pokemon then emerged from the hole created by Groudon, this one a large, yellow bird with jagged feathers. The pokemon rose up from the hole, flying several meters into the air. A girl was riding on this pokemon's back, surveying the scene. The pokemon was Zapdos and the girl riding, of course, was Ashley. Lucas recognized them both. By now, Palkia and Dialga were starting to get back up.

"You know..." Ashley let out a sigh. "Just once I'd like to visit a new region and NOT have to deal with the local legends..."

* * *

Author's Notes: Didn't do much with Palkia/Dialga this chapter, was mostly introducing the new conflict as well as giving one of the girls a chance to show up. More will be done on it next chapter but I don't know if it'll be resolved next chapter or not. It might get chapter 40 all to itself. Or maybe I'll try to focus mostly on Palkia/Dialga next chapter and switch to Dawn after if possible.

You know, I had a thought about Curse while writing this, and the thought goes like this: ghost = undead. Undead = usually abnormally strong/durable, but also rather dead. When a non-ghost uses Curse, it takes on some of the power of the undead, thus the increase in physical attributes. Speed drops because their bodily functions actually slow down, coming closer to death with each use of Curse. Well, isn't that a cheerful thought? But when you think about it, it does make sense...


	39. Chapter 39 Pt1: Battling the Dragons

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 39, Part One**

**Battling the Dragons**

"Looks like this is the end of the bridge, Cynthia," Dawn said. She had finally reached the end of the land bridge that had appeared and a rather large floating island suddenly materialized before her. Dawn immediately realized that was where the final battle would take place. "Yep, looks like this is definitely it Cyn-" Dawn turned around to address Cynthia, but was surprised to find that there was no one there.

"She..." Dawn looked around in confusion. She didn't think she had gone far, but she could no longer see the floating island she came from. "Wasn't she right behind me?"

"-It seems the shadowy pokemon has decided it wants to see you, Dawn,-" Mesprit said to her. "-Only we have been allowed to cross this bridge...-"

_So I'm going to have to fight this shadow pokemon?_ Dawn thought. She swore under her breath. _I was only able to get my pokemon's status affects healed, too. I'm not sure I can take on a legendary pokemon right now!_ Dawn didn't have time to protest, though, as she suddenly felt a powerful aura behind her. Turning around, she saw a pokemon that resembled a giant centipede with claw-like wings near its head.

"So that's... is that the pokemon Dusk was working with?" Dawn wondered aloud. "Or is that the abomination she mentioned?"

"-Abomination? I?-" the shadowy pokemon said, though Dawn herself couldn't understand it. "-I am Giratina. I maintain this world so balance may be kept between both, so that your world may never be destroyed by one such as Cyrus. You...-" Giratina floated back and pointed its claw-like wings at Dawn. "-You are the abomination, here. It is you who will bring the world to destruction.-"

"-That's not true!-" Mesprit shot back. "-Dawn would never do something like that! She isn't even able to do something like that!-"

"-Ah, Mesprit, I see you have no recollection at all of the events that transpired the day you were born. Else you would know that there is another player in this game,-" Giratina said to it. "-Regardless, this has gone on for far too long. Dawn should have stayed home while she had the chance. But now, now she may never leave this place...-"

"Wait, what are you two talking about?" Dawn asked Mesprit, only hearing one side of the conversation. Bowser suddenly growled and backed up close to Dawn, ready to protect her if Giratina tried anything. Mesprit followed suit and rested a hand against her shoulder. "G-guys? What the heck is going on here?"

"-There is nothing any of you can do to prevent this now,-" Giratina said. The red, crystalline tips of its wings began to glow. "-I control every aspect of this place. Which is why you shall be sealed here for all eternity." Giratina then focused its powers and the ground around Dawn began to emit a green glow.

"Wh-what's happening here!" Dawn suddenly cried out. She could feel a very strange aura now and every fiber in her body was telling her to run. But she would never get a chance. In a flash of light, a crystal-like structure shot up around Dawn and her two pokemon, forming around them to perfectly seal them inside. There was no room, no air to breathe, but it didn't matter. As soon as the crystal formed, their bodies entered into a state of suspended animation. Dawn's body was frozen with a look of shock on her face.

"-Now you will sleep forever in this place.-"

* * *

Outside on Mt. Coronet, Lucas, Barry, and Ashley were lined up behind a line of legendary pokemon. Uxie, Azelf, Groudon, and Zapdos were standing off against Dialga and Palkia. Seeing so many legendary pokemon, at least one of which was on the same level as them, caused them to hesitate in making any further attacks against the trainers and their pokemon. This bought the three trainers time to release more pokemon.

"Abs! Bats! Go!"

"Floariko! Roseriko! Come on, let's go!"

"Venusaur! Aerodactyl! I choose you!"

Six pokemon in total appeared to join Groudon, Zapdos, Azelf, and Uxie in battle against the legendary pokemon of time and space. An alakazam, crobat, floatzel, roserade, venusaur, and aerodactyl all gathered around the legendary pokemon. Seeing such a large gathering of pokemon, Dialga and Palkia looked at each other and contemplated their next move.

"Think there's any chance they might just back off now that they've seen what they're up against?" Barry asked, sounding hopefuly.

"Right. These things just always blow over so easily," Ashley replied sarcastically. "Trust me, it'll get worse before it gets better."

As if on cue, Dialga and Palkia let out a loud cry. Seconds later, a pair of orbs shot out of the hole that Groudon had dug to get up the mountain. One a lustrous pearl, the other a chunk of diamond. The pearl orb floated to Palkia and the diamond orb to Dialga and seemingly melded with them, causing the orbs already embedded in their bodies to suddenly glow very brightly.

"See, what'd I tell you?" Ashley said offhandedly. "Bet you anything they've got some kind of superpowers now."

"Aren't you just a little too relaxed about this?" Lucas asked her, though the tone of his own voice didn't sound any more concerned than Ashley's.

"Well let's find out what we're up against before we start to panic," Ashley said. "Groudon! Venusaur! Attack each of them with Solarbeam!

"-Then I'll take the dragon-looking thing, you can take the one with the steel plates growing out of it.-" Venusaur said, quickly taking aim at Palkia. He raised his back and angled the plant on it down slightly. Groudon snorted gruffly but complied with Venusaur's plan and turned to Dialga, opening its mouth. Both pokemon fired simultaneously, launching beams of solar energy that was being drawn into their bodies almost at the same time they were firing.

However, something strange happened before the beams could reach their intended targets. The beam fired at Palkia suddenly began to twist and bend, shooting off on an angle and missing the legendary pokemon entirely. The beam fired at Dialga, meanwhile, wasn't redirected. Dialga simply dodged it. By the time the beam had reached Dialga, it was already standing to the side of it even though no one had seen it move.

"And NOW the pokemon of time and space are showing their true powers," Ashley said with a slight grin. "Space manipulation to divert an attack, time manipulation to stop time and avoid it. This'll be a tricky fight."

"TRICKY!" Barry yelled and shot Ashley a shocked look. "How the hell are we even supposed to fight pokemon with powers like that!"

"We need to find a way around them with our own pokemon's powers, that's all," Ashley replied with a slight shrug. "For now, we need to keep them on the defensive. A pokemon with Dialga's powers would be pretty devastating if it went..."

"I think it's too late for that!" Barry interjected, anxiously pointing toward the time controlling pokemon. Dialga had once more moved from its spot, now floating in the air, without anyone noticing. Worse than that, though, was the barrage of Aura Spheres raining down toward their pokemon.

There was little time for the pokemon to brace themselves against Dialga's surprise attack. In the blink of an eye, each of them had a sphere of concentrated aura homing in on them. Most of their pokemon withstood the attack, though obviously worse for it. But many of their pokemon were fortunate enough to bear a resistance to the fighting-type and thus resisted the Aura Sphere attack.

Groudon was one of the unlucky ones, though. One of the spheres smashed the land titan in the face and it staggered back, nearly falling on the floatzel positioned behind it. Groudon had taken more from Palkia's previous Spacial Rend than even it had realized and was now feeling pretty weak after taking an Aura Sphere from Dialga. Groudon needed to rest.

It would never get the chance, though, as Palkia was next to show off its power. Palkia clawed the air again, sending another distorted energy wave at Groudon. With the distance between them, Groudon could have at least braced itself against the attack and maybe even withstood it. That gap suddenly closed in an instant. Using its power over space, Palkia brought Groudon and the energy wave closer together long enough for the energy to strike Groudon across the chest. When space suddenly expanded again, Groudon was flung back and crashed to the ground between the trainers and their pokemon.

"...Everyone! Fire away! I don't care what attacks you use but don't let up!" Ashley yelled. She quickly grabbed Groudon's pokeball from her belt, having put it there to send out her other two pokemon, and recalled it. Groudon had managed to make a showy entrance and made a strong surprise attack against the other two legends, but it seemed that would be it. Even with Groudon down, though, the intensified sunlight was continuing at least for now.

At Ashley's command, Zapdos, Venusaur, and Aerodactyl immediately began to attack the two legendary pokemon. All three of them aimed for Palkia, due to Groudon's recent loss to it. Aerodactyl took a direct approach, flying toward Palkia at full speed and spinning into a Giga Impact. Zapdos fired a bolt of electricity from its wings and Venusaur, taking advantage of the lingering sunlight, fired another Solarbeam at Palkia.

With so many attacks coming toward it, Palkia couldn't deflect them all. However, it still wouldn't be hit by the attacks. Twisting the dimensional boundaries, Palkia formed a portal and escaped through it. The portal closed just before Aerodactyl would have hit it, causing the ancient flyer to stop in its tracks. A bad idea, as it ended up receiving the attacks meant for Palkia. First a jolt of electricity shot through its body, then a blast of solar energy pushed it into the air. Aerodactyl's unconscious body fell back to the Spear Pillar, where Ashley recalled it, while Palkia reappeared in the same spot it had been standing before.

The rest of the pokemon, save for Azelf and Uxie, attacked Dialga instead. Roseriko used Weather Ball, launching a ball of fire at Dialga. Floariko shot toward Dialga while making sure to avoid its allies attacks, one arm raised to use Brick Break. Abs focused, concentrating its psychic power on Dialga for a Psychic attack, outlining the legendary pokemon in a blue aura. Bats, hoping to disrupt Dialga's efforts, let out a loud screech to attack with supersonic. Uxie and Azelf, rather than attacking, tried to focus their powers to dampen Dialga and Palkia's.

For the most part, their attacks had no affect on Dialga. Using its power, Dialga once again stopped time long enough to dodge out of the way of the incoming attacks. Even Uxie and Azelf couldn't slow it down. With only the two of them, they couldn't manage nearly enough power to weaken Dialga or Palkia. Abs's attack, however, wasn't shaken off so easily. After Dialga resumed time, Abs simply refocused on Dialga's new location. Dialga tried a few more times to shake Abs's attack, but after a while it needed to stop and recharge. It was then that Abs focused all its power on Dialga's head and smashed it into the ground, briefly dazing the legendary pokemon.

"Seems like... a direct attack like Psychic might actually work on these guys!" Lucas said, a smirk crossing his lips. "Their defenses aren't so perfect afterall!"

"See, now, if I knew that, I would have brought a psychic-type," Ashley said, nodding folding her arms. "Guess I'll just have to make due, then. I mean, hey, if psychic attacks will work, maybe some other form of direct attack will too?" With only two pokemon remaining not already engaged in the fight, Ashley took one of those remaining pokeballs from her belt to release a third pokemon.

"Well, now that the offense is solved, let's try to figure out a defense too! Aggron!" Ashley held out the pokeball and pressed the button on it, releasing her Aggron out onto the field. Aggron let out a loud roar, announcing his presence. "Aggron, get ready to use Protect as soon as an attack comes your way!" Aggron nodded and crossed its arms, ready to defend itself at a moments notice.

"Can't say I have any psychic-type pokemon either," Barry muttered, then glanced over at Lucas. "Looks like the offense is all your's, buddy! You focus on Dialga and we'll keep Palkia preoccupied!"

"You don't have to tell me that," Lucas said, grinning slightly. He thought for sure he'd be taking a back seat to someone like Ashley, but their victory now relied on him and his alakazam. "Abs, I probably don't have to tell you anything either. Give 'em heck!"

Abs did just that, focusing another Psychic attack on Dialga. Again, the pokemon of time tried stopping time to avoid the attack. It was a useless effort, though, as refocusing on Dialga's new location when time resumed barely took any effort at all. A harsh, blue glow surrounded the legendary pokemon and again its head was smashed into the ground. Dialga reeled from the blow and staggered back.

Not content to stay on the defensive, Palkia quickly launched an attack before anyone else's pokemon could. Using the same attack as before, Palkia slashed the air with its claws. A pink energy wave fired out from the distortion caused by Palkia's claws, flying through the air toward Aggron until a sudden twisting of space put the two almost on top of each other. Fortunately, Aggron was already using Protect by the time Palkia was launching the attack. The blue bubble Aggron formed around itself protected it until the energy faded.

"Not bad. If we can just keep this up, we'll be able to beat them," Ashley stated. "Of course, we can't lower our guard just yet. They might have other powers they haven't used yet."

"You know, last time you said that," Lucas began to say, but was interrupted as Dialga and Palkia suddenly made their move.

In the blink of an eye, the two legendary pokemon moved closer together. The orbs on their bodies then began to glow brightly. A small, black hole formed in the air before the two pokemon, similar to when Cyrus ordered them to destroy the world. Only this time, it was expanding much more quickly, and what seemed like an empty void could be seen through the hole.

"They... they did exactly what you said..." Lucas slapped his hand against his forehead. "We're doomed."

"We're only doomed if you've already given up hope," Ashley replied. Feeling a sudden breeze as the hole started sucking everything toward it, Ashley reached up and grabbed her hat before it could fly off. Their pokemon, who were closer to the source, all quickly braced themselves using Aggron for support. Lucas's crobat almost didn't make it as being airborn left it more vulnerable, but Venusaur was able to grab it with Vine Whip and reel it in.

"But this attack is one that will destroy this world," Lucas said. That comment seemed to get Ashley's attention. "It's the same technique they were using when Cyrus asked them to do that, only this time it seems like they're sucking everything into an endless void instead of a high-density sphere. So maybe this one is only meant to destroy us..."

"That's not exactly comforting..." Ashley mumbled, shaking her head. "And our pokemon aren't in much of a position to attack now that they're all huddled behind Aggron and Venusaur." She then looked at Lucas and asked, "Can Abs do anything?"

"If Abs could do anything, he'd be doing it already," Lucas replied, then looked at Barry expectantly. "I don't suppose YOU have any tricks up your sleeve?"

"Wh-what? ME!" Barry recoiled in shock. "The heck are you looking at me for! You two are the ones with all the answers! I don't have a clue and I'm kinda down to my last two pokemon here!"

"Well I don't see how this situation could get any worse then," Ashley said. Then she nearly tripped forward as the suction from the void increased. Palkia and Dialga were definitely trying to pull them all into what was likely an airless vacuum. The three trainers quickly bent down to lessen the pull it was having on them.

"Me and my big mouth..." Ashley muttered. The hole being opened by Dialga and Palkia was continuing to expand, the suction getting more powerful the larger it got. Ashley knew that it wouldn't be long before there was no way they could resist it's pull. But, looking at that hole, there was something else bothering her about it.

Just inside the void, Ashley could see a huge, multicolor crystal sphere.

* * *

Back in the torn world, Giratina felt a shiver go through its body. Though it had already dealt with Cyrus, it seemed there was now another threat in the real world. "-Seems I must depart to Mt. Coronet again,-" Giratina said, though Dawn and her pokemon couldn't hear it from inside the stasis crystal. "-Of course, you will still be here when I get back anyway. Until then.-"

Giratina turned to leave through a portal hidden behind it. Catching a green glint out of the corner of its eye, it stopped and looked back. To Giratina's utter shock, the glowing was coming from Dawn's pokeballs. Each of them would briefly flash in time with the gem in Mesprit's forehead. It was then that Giratina noticed Mesprit's tail touching Dawn's belt.

"-It must have moved its tail when it realized what I was doing...-" Giratina turned around and narrowed its eyes at them. "-I do not know what it is doing, but it's a useless gesture. Nothing can...-"

Suddenly, the crystal surrounding Dawn and her pokemon shattered in a flash of light. The broken fragments fell to the ground around Dawn, further shattering on impact with the remaining pieces disappearing entirely. "H-huwha?" Dawn looked around in confusion. "What just happened here?"

"-Giratina tried to freeze us in a stasis crystal,-" Mesprit explained while keeping an eye on the shadow pokemon. "-I don't really get it, but Giratina seems to want you out of the picture for some reason.-"

"Then how did we get out?" Dawn asked. She then noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and saw Bowser walking toward Giratina. _What's Bowser doing?_ she wondered.

"-I used my power to raise everyone's emotions, and through combining our power we were able to destroy it,-" Mesprit said. Looking at Bowser again, and then down at her pokeballs, Dawn could feel an intense aura radiating from them.

"-And we're all riled up now because of it!-" Bowser added and narrowed his eyes at Giratina. "-So hurry up and release everyone so we can kick this guy's butt!-"

Dawn nodded. "Okay, I think I get what you're saying!" she said, then started grabbing pokeballs from her belt. "Everyone! COME ON OUT!" Dawn took a pokeball in each hand, releasing them two at a time. First to emerge was Ryu and Assassin, then Captain Falcon and Axel. Last was Bahamut, appearing next to Bowser.

"-So that's how you broke free of the stasis crystal.-" Giratina's voice sounded like a mutter, though it seemed to come from everywhere. "-This should not have come to pass. Why don't you back down quietly and...-"

"-ENOUGH!-" Bahamut yelled back. "-Stasis crystals, legendary pokemon, blue-haired madmen... none of that means anything to us!-" Bahamut growled and clenched his claw-tipped hands. "-The spiritual bond between pokemon and trainer will overcome the impossible, even if it's something we can't make any sense of! Together, there is NOTHING we can't do!" The rest of Dawn's pokemon let out a cry in agreement and suddenly started to glow.

Ryu's body didn't seem to change most aside from becoming taller, but the changes were much more evident when they were finished and the white glow he gave off stopped. Now Ryu had metal spikes on the back of each hand like claws and wore a beige, fur coat. "-No matter where we are, our auras shine brightly!-"

Assassin's body sprouted long arms from the side of her head, and a long neck shot up from her body as it increased in size. The hands on the end of her long arms now ended in a claw much like the one on her tail. When the glowing faded, it was also clear she changed in color from blue to purple. "-Even if we're far from home...-"

Captain Falcon's body also seemed to only undergo minor changes in addition to growing in size. The only exception was the long head feathers becoming almost blade-like in shape. The tip of them could even be seen to be red when the glowing stopped. "-Even if we can't reach that open sky...-"

The flames on Axel's body flared out behind him as his body grew and a horn sprouted from his forehead. The flames that were usually golden in color as a ponyta retained their color, but now darker and with a more reddish tint. "-Our burning spirit will cut through time and space!-"

Bowser's body underwent a much more noticeable change. The bushes on his back moved together and sprouted into a large tree. Spikes shot up on one side like rocks and another pair of spikes formed on his neck. "-I don't get why we have to fight you, but...-"

Bahamut also reached his final form of evolution, becoming a much larger and lithe-looking garchomp. "We'll, never back down, because..."

Then, all Dawn's pokemon cried out in unison. "-YOU MESS WITH OUR TRAINER, YOU MESS WITH US!-"

"Their emotions really are running pretty high," Dawn commented, then looked to Mesprit. "Think we should leave them like this?"

"-They'll be fine, they'll be fine!-" Mesprit replied, nodding. "-I'll turn them back to normal later.-"

"-Fools...-" Giratina growled. The gems on the tips of its wings glowed faintly as it spread them out. "-In this place, my power is unrivaled. Your should have just stayed in stasis for all eternity. But since it seems that won't be happening, allow me to show you the power you now face!-"

Letting out a loud cry, Giratina's wings flashed and the terrain around Dawn and her pokemon suddenly began to shift. The floating platform they were on suddenly began to split, separating each into separate sections as walls of rock rose up around them. More walls formed and the platform continued to expand until it was hundreds of feet in diameter, while keeping each pokemon and Dawn separated into their own small chambers within.

"-I have total control over how this realm appears,-" Giratina's booming voice echoed throughout their rocky dungeon. "-Though I risk destabilizing your world, it would make little difference if I was unable to stop you here.-"

"-DON'T COUNT US OUT JUST YET!-" a voice suddenly yelled as the outer shell of Giratina's dungeon began to crack. Bahamut suddenly shot out, digging his way through solid rock, and emerged onto the surface to point a clawed hand at Giratina. "-Underestimating us will be at your own peril! If I have to settle this alone then I'll do just that! Dragon! Versus! Dragon!"

"-Hmph. Then so be it,-" Giratina replied. "-Defeating you alone shall take no time at all.-"

* * *

Author's Notes: Sorry about the lateness. I ended up pretty distracted yesterday somehow (or, well, might as well say this weekend, but yesterday in particular) and was probably a bit overconfident that I could get it done after getting a pretty big start on it earlier in the week.

Ended up mostly set-up in this chapter, at least for the Giratina fight. A few blows were traded in the fight with the other two legendaries, though. Next chapter should finish things off.


	40. Chapter 39 Pt2: Battling the Dragons

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 39, Part Two**

**Battling the Dragons**

"Isn't there any way we can attack those pokemon!" Barry cried out, yelling over the windstorm that threatened to pull the trainers and their pokemon into the void.

"Nothing WE can, no," Ashley replied rather calmly. "Afterall, we're kinda pinned here."

"You say that as if you're expecting backup," Lucas said quietly, glancing over at her. "Care to fill us in?"

"Well, there's someone I just know is going to show up at the very last second," Ashley replied. As she spoke, the suction from the void grew stronger and the three trainers started to slide across the ground. "Around now, I would say."

"Jirachi! Gravity!" And with that, the suction suddenly stopped. Ashley, Lucas, and Barry felt their bodies growing much heavier all of a sudden as the gravity in the area increased. They couldn't get up now even if they wanted to, but the greater weight had stopped them from sliding.

"And how did I know you two were waiting to make your grand entrance!" Ashley yelled, looking back to see Rina and Melany standing at the far end of the Spear Pillar. Jirachi was hovering near the three trainers, where it had used its Gravity technique. Standing alongside Melany and Rina were Skarmory and Knight, Rina's dragonite. A rather messed up version of porygon, known as porygon-z, floated next to Melany.

"You do seem to make a habit of this..." Rina commented to Melany.

"Well you're the one that made the first move," Melany shot back. "Anyway. Porygon, let's do this! Nasty Plot! Lock On! SET UP!" Porygon got a weird look in its eyes as it began plotting. "They're close enough together, so aim between them." Melany added. When Porygon finally used Lock On, it aimed the targetting bullseye directly between the two legendaries.

"W-wait, is she really going to attack from all the way back there!" Barry asked in disbelief.

"Thankfully we're already lying down..." Lucas muttered bitterly. "She's crazy, going all-out like that..."

"NOW! Full power! HYPER BEAM!" The rest of the pokemon barely had time to duck and cover when Porygon finally attacked. Coming from this type of Porygon, a Hyper Beam was incredibly powerful already. The added Nasty Plot beforehand increased that power even more to create an attack that would rival the destructive power of Explosion.

The beam Porygon fired started almost at a point near the pokemon's beak, but it quickly spread out from there to become a massive beam of destruction. Ashley, Lucas, and Barry could even feel the heat from it as it passed overhead. The beam was large enough to engulf both Dialga and Palkia entirely and had enough energy to shoot straight out from the mountain for hundreds of feet before finally dissipitating. Anyone that had been looking at Mt. Coronet would have easily witnessed the light show.

With so much energy being released, Porygon wasn't able to maintain it for long. Though it felt like ages for the three pokemon pinned down under it, the energy began to trickle down after less than a minute until it finally stopped entirely. When it did, Palkia and Dialga were both down. In spite of any increase in power the two might have received, they had finally been overwhelmed. However...

"That hole is still open!" Ashley cried out in disbelief.

"You know, usually when you defeat the final boss, everything they were doing suddenly stops and/or reverses. Usually followed by their lair collapsing," Melany muttered, folding her arms in front of her. "I'd have accepted Spear Pillar being destroyed if it meant that hole, vortex, portal, thing was closed."

"-It will not close on its own, now that it has been opened,-" Uxie said to the group while holding onto Ashley's Aggron for dear life. "-It is a rip in time and space itself, Dialga and Palkia's powers were only expanding it. We will need to find some way to close it on our own, or convince those two to do it for us.-" Uxie motioned with its tail toward the two fallen legendary pokemon. Lucas translated for the rest of the group.

"Oh, sure, like they're going to help us NOW!" Barry growled. "The only way we're closing that is if we can find a way to manipulate time and space ourselves!"

"They're not even a factor in this anymore," Lucas reminded him, pointing at the two legendary pokemon. He expected them to still be lying down. They were getting back up. "What the... they were just knocked out!"

"-It seems there's something sealed away in that void giving them the strength to keep fighting,-" Uxie explained to Lucas, then pointed toward the multicolor, crystal prison hidden within.

"What is it?" Lucas wondered, focusing his gaze on that prison. "Whatever it is, it must be pretty strong to be able to restore the strength of two legendary pokemon. Definitely don't want to unseal that..."

Unfortunately for Lucas, Melany noticed Uxie pointing toward the crystalline object, but was too far back to hear the conversation even without the strong winds pulling everything toward the vortex. "So that big rainbow-colored thing is the problem, huh?" she said to herself, then glanced over at Porygon. "You ready for another shot, then?" Porygon replied by spinning its limbs and making a loud whistling noise.

"Wait, you're just going to shoot at that thing without knowing what it is!" Rina asked incredulously. "Isn't that a bit reckless!"

Melany shrugged. "Only idea I can think of. I doubt we'll be able to close that... hole thing on our own. And what's the worst that could happen? I mean, what are the chances of something dangerous being in there? Even if it explodes or something, it's obviously in a vacuum. We'd be fine."

"You shouldn't blow things up if you don't know what they are," Rina cautioned, waving a finger at her. "Especially when you could easily find out. Just ask the pokemon that pointed that out in the first place."

"Ah, good point," Melany said, then put her hands to her mouth and yelled. "HEY! IF YOU'VE FIGURED SOMETHING OUT, FEEL FREE TO SHARE!"

"There's something powerful sealed away in that crystal thing in the void and its giving Dialga and Palkia the strength to keep fighting!" Lucas yelled back.

"Ah. Guess you were right, then," Melany said to Rina. She then let out an exasperated sigh. "Great. So we've got nothing, and those two pokemon are back on their feet. We didn't really help the situation at all..."

While Melany was fretting over what to do next, another girl was watching the situation unfolding from just below them. Hidden inside the cave entrance to Mt. Coronet, Dusk watched the scene unfolding with an increasinly concerned expression. _I don't get it!_ she thought. _Why isn't Giratina doing anything about this!_

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Torn World...

"-EAT! THIS!-" Bahamut yelled as he lept toward Giratina, claws bared in a Dragon Claw attack.

"-NEVER!-" Giratina yelled back, extending one wing out. Using the wing like claws, it extended the wing toward Bahamut in a slashing motion. Bahamut's claws met Giratina's wing, creating a shockwave between the two that knocked Bahamut back onto the giant rock structure and slammed Giratina's wing back into its body in a painful blow.

"-Not bad! Seems you've got a bit of power there!-" Bahamut said to Giratina, lips curling back into a toothy grin. "-Too bad I've got more!-"

"-You may have more strength, but I can draw upon the entire Torn World. I can use its energy to keep myself at full strength. And I can use its form, altering it to my will,-" Giratina said, then spread out its wings again. Four small balls of shadowstuff formed along each wing. "-Your power is nothing compared to me!-" With a flap of its wings, Giratina launched all eight shadowballs at Bahamut.

"-So I just have to tear this place apart! Piece of cake!-" Bahamut growled and spread out his arms, sending a blast of sand swirling around him. The eight shadowballs entered the swirling sand and vanished. Any sound they might have made was muffled by the sandstorm.

"-Don't think for a second that you can hide from me in there.-" Giratina said, then suddenly vanished. Moments later it shot up out of the sandstorm, rising straight up over it with its wings spread. After rising dozens of feet, Giratina turned to look down at the sandstorm, gaze narrowed. "-Where did he...-" Catching a flash of movement from the corner of its eye, Giratina turned and saw Bahamut barreling toward it. "-Clever boy...-"

Using the sandstorm as a cover, Bahamut had dug into the rocky prison Giratina had made and moved through it while Giratina was attacking. After emerging from the side of the prison, Bahamut raised both claws, drawing out energy from each, and then leapt toward Giratina. "-This time I'll GET YOU GOOD!-" Bahamut yelled as he soared through the void toward Giratina.

Giratina tried to block Bahamut's attack by folding its wings in front of its body, but its defense couldn't hold up against Bahamut's raw physical power. The wings folded back until Bahamut's claws raked straight down Giratina's face, causing the legendary pokemon to howl in pain. Bahamut then slammed a foot down onto the claw marks to push himself back through the air. He did a single flip and landed on top of the prison again.

Giratina shook off the hit and turned to Bahamut, a deep growl echoing throughout the Torn World. "-It seems you are going to become quite pest,-" Giratina said to him, then spread its wings again. "-Let's see how you handle THIS!-" Four more spheres formed across each of Giratina's wings. This time, the spheres were comprised of focused aura power. When Giratina launched the spheres from its wings all eight of them immediately homed in on Bahamut, forming into a single large Aura Sphere as they approached.

"-Tch! This infinite energy of your's is what's really annoying,-" Bahamut growled. He quickly dove down, digging into the hard rocky prison and managing to disappear. The giant aura sphere struck the spot where he had dug and exploded, carving out a large crater. Bahamut had already dug deep enough to avoid the hit, though.

"-You will not evade me this time.-" Giratina formed another four Aura Spheres along each wing. Its eyes scanned the surface of the prison for any sign of Bahamut emerging. Giratina didn't have to wait long. Further down from the spot he entered, Bahamut burst out of the ground and jumped straight out toward Giratina.

"-Now I have you!-" Giratina growled and then unleashed its attack, sending all eight Aura Spheres barreling through the air toward Bahamut, again homing in on him and merging into a single, large Aura Sphere. Seeing the attack coming, Bahamut tried to swerve in the air to avoid it. It was no use. The large Aura Sphere followed his movements and hit him head on.

"-GYAHHHHHHHHH!-" Bahamut screeched as the Aura Sphere collided with him, pushing him back until it smashed him into the prison and exploded, leaving Bahamut lying in the bottom of a crater. It seemed at first like he was down and out. After a few seconds, though, he weakly pulled himself out and stood up, grimacing in pain.

"-Nice... move...-" Bahamut wheezed. "-Almost... took me out with that... but you're still not going to win...-"

"-Are you blind? Or just stupid?-" Giratina said tersely. "-No, surely even if that were the case you would realize how terribly outmatched you are!-"

"-Heh... you don't get it, do you?-" A toothy grin spread across Bahamut's face. "-You're right. In this place, I can't stand up against you alone. That's why I've been buying time.-"

"-Time for what, exactly?-" Giratina asked. Though, as the rocky prison Giratina created began to shake, it realized it knew the answer. And it didn't like it. This group of pokemon was quickly becoming annoying to deal with. The rock prison that it had trapped Dawn and the rest of her pokemon in began to crack all over and seemed as if it would surely break. To Giratina's surprised, and relief, it held. The shaking eventually stopped and the prison remained, though now large fissures had formed all over it.

"-A futile effort it would seem,-" Giratina mused. "-Now, before there are anymore interruptions, I will end you!-" Giratina gathered a mystic power in the ruby-like tips of its wings and then dove down toward Bahamut, raising its wings back as it did. It was a Dragon Claw technique, using its wings as claws. Bahamut growled and braced himself for the coming attack.

But the attack never came.

Just as Giratina's clawed wings were about to strike Bahamut, a flaming horse with a glowing green horn rushed past the dragon pokemon. It managed to slip in between Giratina's wings, barreling into its face and driving its horn in between Giratina's eyes. Giratina roared in pain and recoiled from the blow, quickly backing away.

"-Don't just decide for yourself that it's over.-" Axel snorted and flames shot out of his nostrils. "-You have more to deal with than just this weak dragon.-"

"-Tch. Like I really wanted your help.-" Bahamut growled.

"-Too bad, you're getting it,-" Axel shot back, then charged toward Giratina. Opening his mouth, he spat several small fireballs at Giratina while flames began to surround his body. The Ember attacks didn't even leave a mark when they struck Giratina's body and burned out, but Axel was undeterred. He jumped into the air and rolled into a flaming wheel, then dove toward Giratina's face. He was knocked aside casually by a Dragon Claw from Giratina's wing. Axel hit the ground hard, the flame around him extinguishing on impact, and skidded across the rocky terrain for several yards before coming to a stop on his side.

"-Don't get cocky just because you landed a surprise attack,-" Giratina growled at Axel. "-I can still finish you both in one move!-" Giratina spread out its wings and began gathering aura, but again was interrupted. A loud *SNAP* was heard and Giratina bellowed in pain, losing focus on the aura. Behind him, Assassin had emerged from the ground and grabbed Giratina's tail in her powerful jaws. She then extended her arms and tail to grab Giratina with all three sets of claws.

"-I am much stronger now!-" Assassin said giddily, though it was too muffled for anyone to make out with Giratina's tail in her mouth. Putting on a display of that strength, she bent her tail and neck backwards, suplexing Giratina into the rock behind her and letting go. As soon as she let go, Giratina whacked her with its tail, knocking her aside.

"-So you're all climbing out of my prison then?-" Giratina grumbled, quickly floating up and turning to face the three pokemon. "-Hmph. Then so be it. How many of you I have to face makes little difference to me.-"

"-Then I'll assume you won't mind one more!-" another pokemon's voice suddenly cried out. Giratina looked up just in time to see Captain Falcon flying straight down toward it with a blue aura radiating from her body. Channeling that power around her, Captain Falcon slammed into Giratina's face with an all-out tackle. Giratina was knocked back into the ground again and Captain Falcon bounced off and flipped backwards, but managed to right herself and get her wings flapping again before she could hit the ground.

"-Really, you are starting to get rather...-" Giratina was cut off as it was suddenly struck by an Aura Sphere from behind. "-Argh!-" it growled, then quickly turned its head to see another Aura Sphere coming toward it. Giratina instinctively rose up in an attempt to dodge, but the sphere homed in on him and struck it in the back.

"-Thanks to my foresight, my Aura Sphere technique will still hit you,-" said Ryu, who was standing a good distance behind Giratina. Focusing his aura into his cupped hands, he formed another sphere and launched it at Giratina.

With this last interruption, though, Giratina had reached its limit. "-ENOUGH!-" Giratina yelled, its voice echoing throughout the Torn World. Giratina shot straight up and threw out its wings, sending a pulse of energy that blasted Ryu's Aura Sphere away and knocked down all of Dawn's pokemon.

"-I did not want to go this far, but you have pushed me! Now, NONE OF YOU WILL LEAVE HERE ALIVE!-" Giratina started gathering power, forming a rapidly growing sphere in front of it. The entire Torn World was shaking. Giratina was drawing the power from the Torn World itself to form an ultimate attack.

"-Tch! Is this Giratina's true power!-" Bahamut growled. He tried to stand up, but couldn't. Gravity seemed to be greatly intensified to keep them pinned while Giratina readied its attack. "-I hate to say it, but we really can't match this...-"

But just as it seemed like all hope was lost, something strange happened. Purple, wisp-like ghosts began to appear. As opposed to pokemon, these actually looked like human ghosts. One by one they began to encircle Giratina, completely unaffected by whatever power had Dawn's pokemon pinned. It took a few seconds for Giratina to notice, by which point several spirits were circling around it.

"-What! You...-" Giratina suddenly stopped gathering energy for its attack. "-You would dare turn on me! Then begone!-" Giratina formed several balls of shadowstuff and fired one at each spirit. The spirits vanished when the Shadow Balls hit each of them, but reformed almost instantly and continued to swirl around Giratina. As they did, Dawn's pokemon felt their bodies become lighter and they could finally stand up.

"-I don't get what's going on, but it looks like we've got an ally here,-" Axel said. "-Speaking of allies, what the heck is Bowser up to!-"

"-Bah... will this day... never end?-" Giratina said, its tone sounding drowsy. The spirits seemed as though they were putting it to sleep. "-Why would you attack me... you incomplete...-"

Once again, Giratina found itself cut off midsentence as several large roots suddenly burst out of the ground and rose up to wrap around it. Giratina struggled against the roots, but it no longer had the strength to break free due to its drowsiness. The roots tugged, and down Giratina went, barreling straight down into the rock-formed prison below.

And it kept going. The ground cracked and broke away and Giratina was pulled straight down through it. Even Giratina couldn't withstand the pain from being pulled straight down through solid rock. It seemed as if it was already weakened just so the attacking pokemon could pull this off. Eventually, the roots stopped and Giratina slammed down on a rocky floor. Looking up from there, it saw Bowser standing before it with Dawn and Mesprit far behind it.

"-Oh, hello. Don't mind me, I'm just resting after that attack now,-" Bowser said to Giratina.

"-Resting... for what?-" Giratina asked weakly.

"-Well, while the others were battling you, I've been using Curse,-" Bowser explained. "-So what's all this for? Well, I've got just three words for you: Point. Blank. Earthquake.-" With that, Bowser raised up on its hind legs and slammed down hard on Giratina's head.

Rather than creating an earthquake, the sheer power behind Bowser's attack sent Giratina on a nosedive straight down through the rest of the prison. Needless to say, the legendary pokemon was no longer conscious. Instead, its unconscious body was being battered and broken as it shot straight down through the rock.

And it didn't stop there. Just below the rocky prison was another floating island. Giratina came down on it so fast that the island simply shattered. After that, the wacky-physics nature of the Torn World took effect and Giratina started 'falling' in random directions until it disappeared from sight.

"I guess that takes care of that, but I didn't really do anything here," Dawn said, sounding somewhat bitter about it. "In any case... I wonder what that was that helped us just now?"

"-Nevermind that! We have an escape route now!-" Mesprit said to her. "-Giratina had a portal ready to go before we tried to fight it, we can get out through there.-" Mesprit said to her.

"Yeah. I guess I shouldn't complain since we managed to win in the end," Dawn said, nodding slightly. "I wonder where Cynthia's been all this time?"

* * *

Meanwhile, further back in the Torn World.

"My, it seems the barrier is finally gone!" Cynthia said, taking a few steps forward to demonstrate this to her garchomp. She then let out a sigh. "But it seems like the battle is already over, and Dawn managed to defeat Giratina on her own."

"-If we had battled Giratina, I would have showed that garchomp of her's how it's done!-" Cynthia's garchomp grumbled.

"Regardless... this is certainly an interesting turn of events," Cynthia mused. "Dawn is even stronger than I thought she was, for all of her pokemon to suddenly evolve like that. And overcoming a legendary pokemon when it clearly has the home field advantage... but I wonder if there wasn't some assistance there?" Thinking it over for a moment, Cynthia shrugged.

"Well, regardless, let's meet up with her before she disappears, hmm?"

* * *

Meanwhile, outside the Torn World on Mt. Coronet...

"Hey, Rina? I just had another crazy idea," Melany said to her blonde-haired partner. "There's another technique Porygon here knows that might be able to fix this but... we'll need a distraction. And we should probably get the others to safety too. No telling what might happen."

"What's with you and being reckless all of a sudden!" Rina asked her in disbelief. "What are you even going to try this time?"

"I'm going to have Porygon use Trick Room," Melany explained while taking a yellow and black pokeball from her belt. "And I DID say to get everyone out of the way first! But before that..." Melany gripped the pokeball tightly in her hand and held it out. "Rayquaza! GO! Hit Dialga and Palkia with Dragon Claw!"

The pokeball Melany held opened and a red beam fired out into the air, forming into a long, large, green serpent. Rayquaza let out a mighty roar and flew toward the two legendary pokemon. It circled around them, surrounding them with its body until its head and arms were directly in front of them. Rayquaza then let out another roar and slashed both pokemon with its claws, knocking them off their feet.

"My turn now!" Rina said, taking a pokeball from her belt. "Deoxys, go!" Rina held out her pokeball and released a red/cyan colored, humanoid pokemon with one normal arm and one tentacle arm. "Deoxys, Jirachi, Knight, help Ashley and the others to their feet and then bring them over here when they've gathered their pokemon! Ashley, you guys need to recall all your pokemon when you get up!"

Knight, Deoxys, and Jirachi all nodded and immediately set to work. With Jirachi no longer providing the extra gravity to hold them in place, the three trainers started to slide again. They were quickly grabbed by the pokemon, though, and pulled up onto their feet. Knight grabbed Ashley, Deoxys grabbed Lucas, and Jirachi grabbed Barry and lifted him up.

"Geez! It's about time! I was getting tired of lying on the ground!" Barry whined. "I oughta fine your trainers ten million for that!"

"Worry about that later," Lucas snapped. "We're pulling out!" With that, all three of them began recalling their pokemon, leaving Venusaur and Aggron for last. Holding each other for support, Uxie and Azelf were able to limp away on their own. After all their pokemon were recalled, the trainers were carried over to where Melany and Rina were waiting.

"Well it's about time you used your head instead of blasting away!" Ashley said to Melany, bapping her on the forehead with the palm of her hand. "Where did you get off trying a stunt like that?"

"Ah, I wanted to try the full power approach for a change," Melany admitted sheepishly. She then turned her attention to Rayquaza, who delivered another Dragon Claw to each of the two Sinnoh legendaries as they tried to get back up. "Rayquaza, that's it! Move out of the way now!" Melany called out. Nodding, Rayquaza quickly fell back and moved up into the air, eventually stopping when it was hovering over Melany and the others.

"-We could overpower those two easily, but there seems to be a third pokemon drawing power from multiple sources to feed to those two,-" Rayquaza said. "-We need to close that rip before we can even hope to defeat them.-"

Of course, without the emerald, Melany couldn't understand Rayquaza. In the end it made no difference. "Porygon, now! Use Trick Room and focus it on that rip!"

"EVERYONE LOVES MAGICAL TREVOR, THE TRICKS THAT HE DOES ARE EVER SO CLEVER!" Porygon suddenly screeched and began spinning all of its limbs, as if it had finally lost it completely. Focusing the point of origin near the rip, time and space began to distort. The rip slowly began to pull out toward the trainers and twisting around, taking on a more spiral-like shape while continually growing thinner and longer.

"Hey! I think this is actually working!" Rina said excitedly.

Sure enough, the rip did seem to be closing. Near the dip of the Trick Room distortion, the tear in the time-space continuem became so thin that it repaired itself. In essence, at the tip of the spiral the rip was actually being repaired. Dialga and Palkia didn't seem to like this, though. When they got up again, they focused their power on the spiralling rip. Rather than stopping, though, the rip continued to spiral toward Porygon and the trainers. Only now it was expanding at such a rate that everyone would be in danger if that spiral reached them.

"They're still turning the tides on us!" Melany growled, then turned to the other trainers. "Any of you have pokemon that can use Trick Room!"

"Don't think I've got any..." Barry replied.

"Deoxys? Jirachi?" Rina looked at the two pokemon curiously.

"We could give it a try," Jirachi replied, then it and Deoxys moved out next to Porygon. After taking a moment to study the technique, they focused their power to try to help Porygon. They still didn't fully understand the technique, so the effect they had was minimal, but the expansion of the spiral rip did seem to slow.

"-We'll help too!-" Uxie said, then flew out to join the other psychic pokemon with Porygon. Uxie only needed a brief study to master the technique. When it finally used Trick Room and combined its power with Porygon's, the effect was quite noticeable. The expansion of the rip almost seemed to stop.

Azelf was the next to move, but it stopped briefly in front of Barry. "-Don't worry, Barry! I'll go in place of your pokemon! I won't let us lose!-" it said, then joined Porygon. When Azelf focused its power to use Trick Room, the expansion of the spiral rip halted entirely.

"Alright! We've got it now!" Barry said, grinning. To his dismay, though, Dialga and Palkia simply focused more of their power into opening the rip. Before long, it was expanding again.

"Well psychics seem to work, so let's let Abs take a shot!" Lucas said while taking a pokeball from his belt. After releasing Abs, his alakazam, the two looked at each other and nodded. Abs then teleported over to Porygon and studied the technique, then aided in the effort by using Trick Room. Again, the expansion of the rip slowed, but that spiral was starting to get dangerously close. Already they could feel the wind trying to pull them toward it.

"I don't have a psychic, so maybe a ghost?" Ashley said, then took a pokeball from her belt and released Gengar. "Gengar, go! Try to copy what they're doing!" she said to her.

"-Oooo! This looks like FUN!-" Gengar said deviously, then floated over to Porygon and the psychic pokemon. After leering menacingly at the psychics, Gengar studied Porygon's technique and then turned to the legendary pokemon. Focusing her power, she used Trick Room as well, and the expansion again slowed a bit. But they were still losing ground.

"No good!" Melany said between gritted teeth. "We need more pokemon for this! This would seriously be a good time for more reinforcements to show up!"

Almost as if answering Melany's request, Dialga and Palkia were suddenly bombarded. Nine meteor-like balls of blue energy suddenly rained down around Dialga and Palkia, engulfing them in a huge explosion. Three more soon followed, though by then it was a wasted effort. With the time and space pokemon distracted, the combined efforts of Porygon and the other pokemon were able to twist the rip out of existance, closing it for good.

"ALRIGHT! This time we definitely got it!" Barry cheered, jumping up in the air. In his excitement, he only barely caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure with what looked like another dragonite hiding behind a nearby pillar. The figure hopped on the dragonite and flew away. _Just now... was that... did he come all the way here to try and help?_

"Looks like we got help afterall then..." Rina said, blinking in disbelief. When the smoke cleared, though, Dialga and Palkia were getting back up again. Shocked, the five trainers braced themselves for another fight. But instead of fighting, Dialga and Palkia each opened a separate rip and hopped into them, fleeing the trainers and their pokemon breathed sighs of relief.

"Legendary pokemon can be pretty tenacious, huh?" Lucas asked, looking toward Ashley.

"That only seems to apply to the ones you haven't caught," Ashley replied. "But then again, that's usually because they have another source of power, and we're not willing to let the ones we catch use that power unless absolutely necessary."

"Don't relax yet!" Melany snapped, then pointed across the Spear Pillar. "Look!"

On the other side of the Spear Pillar, a white portal suddenly opened. Again, the trainers braced for the worst. They were surprised to see two humans emerge from the portal, though. Walking side by side, Dawn and Cynthia emerged from the portal, which closed shortly after.

"Aww, seems we missed all the excitement out here too!" Cynthia said, smiling. Melany, Rina, Ashley, Lucas, and Barry collectively groaned.

"I get the feeling they didn't find it that exciting," Dawn said to her. "No, scratch that, their auras say it all. They're done for the day."

* * *

Elsewhere near Mt. Coronet...

"Hmph... she's just lucky I was there to help..." May mumbled under her breath. She was currently fleeing the scene at Mt. Coronet, riding on the back of her Salamence. "Well, I suppose I should have been down there with them but... for some reason I..."

"Hey there!" May froze when she heard a voice calling out to her. She didn't know why it startled her just then, but it did. When she looked over she saw a blonde-haired man catching up to her on the back of a dragonite.

"You're pretty good! You actually beat me to the punch back there!" The man said to her, grinning. The man then handed her a card. "We should meet up sometime!" he said, then sped off in a sudden burst of speed. Blinking, May took a close look at the card she was given.

"Sinnoh... Battle Frontier?" she mumbled, then looked at the retreating figure in disbelief. "Was that guy... a Battle Frontier leader?"

* * *

Author's Notes: Close call with getting this chapter done on time. For some reason, I just didn't get as much done earlier in the day today than I usually do.

Well, hope you all liked dramatic conclusion to this little arc! The aftermath will be covered next chapter!


	41. Chapter 40: Aftermath

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 40**

**Aftermath**

With the battles now over, the trainers at Mt. Coronet swapped stories about what had happened with the respective legendary pokemon they had faced. Dawn and Cynthia explained what had happened in the Torn World with Giratina, and Ashley, Lucas, and Melany explained the situation with Dialga and Palkia.

"But it looks like all three of these dragons could still be an issue. We have no idea where they went or if they will still be aggressive should we encounter them again." Cynthia let out a sigh. "It would have been nice if someone could have captured one of them." She then looked toward Ashley, Melany, and Rina. "Isn't that supposed to be your area of expertise?"

"These pokemon all seemed to have access to special orbs to increase their power," Melany said to Cynthia. "There's a good chance that boost would have made them nearly impossible to catch anyway, not that any opportunities exactly presented themselves."

Cynthia nodded. "I guess it couldn't be helped then. The league will definitely want to track these pokemon down now so we can determine whether or not they will be a threat in the near future." Cynthia then smirked and glanced over at Dawn, who was standing next to her. "I imagine Giratina will be hard to track down now even if we could get into the Torn World."

"Hey, don't look at me! My pokemon were acting entirely on their own!" Dawn shot back defensively. "As much as I hate to say it, I was pretty much a spectator in that fight."

"Even so, under the circumstances it's really quite amazing that they were able to handle that pokemon on their own," Cynthia said to her. "You and your pokemon have both become quite strong."

_As much as I hate to admit it, Cynthia's right_, Lucas thought, looking toward Dawn. _When she was first given that turtwig by Professor Rowan, she didn't even know what she was doing. But now she's able to sense aura, and that turtwig has evolved all the way to a torterra in such a short time. It still annoys me that some trainers can get strong so quickly._

"Well, hey! It's not a total loss!" Barry said, grinning. "Afterall, the legendary pokemon of the lakes have already decided to go with us, right? So at least now we have their help!" Aside from Mesprit, the lake pokemon in question were no longer present. Azelf and Uxie had been put into pokeballs by Barry and Lucas as the two legendary pokemon had tired themselves out battling Dialga and Palkia.

Cynthia nodded to Barry. "True enough," she said, then turned to Dawn again. "Incidentally, Dawn, I'd like to see you do something with that newfound strength of your's."

"What's that?" Dawn asked.

"I would like to see you challenge Sinnoh's Pokemon League." Barry, Lucas, and Dawn were stunned. Cynthia, the undefeated champion of the Sinnoh Elite Four, was personally suggesting that Dawn challenge the league. "I think doing so would be a good chance for you to become even stronger. I would even make special arrangements with the gym leaders, should you agree."

"Challenge the Sinnoh League..." Dawn repeated, gaze shifting to the ground as she thought deeply on Cynthia's request. At the start of her journey, Dawn had no interest in challenging the league. In fact, she hadn't been particularly interested in raising pokemon at all. She was purely in it for personal gain. But, while travelling around Sinnoh, Dawn had encountered many league trainers. Many were surprised that she wasn't already challenging the league.

With that in mind, Dawn turned to Cynthia and nodded. "Okay. I'll do it."

Cynthia clapped her hands together and smiled. "Excellent! I'll make those arrangements then. In one week's time, please meet me at Snowpoint City. The rest of you can come too and watch. Until then, keep at it." Cynthia then reached down and took a pokeball from her belt. "Now, there's a few reports I'm going to have to file after what's happened today. So I'll see you around."

Cynthia released a togekiss from the pokeball she drew. She then hopped on the togekiss's back and took off from the top of the mountain.

"So... who was that anyway?" Rina asked. Barry and Lucas looked at her incredulously.

"Are you serious! You have no idea who that was!" Barry asked her in shock.

"That was..."

"Cynthia, the current Elite Four champion in Sinnoh. Undefeated, I might add," Ashley said, interrupting Lucas as he was about to explain. "Being the regional champion of Kanto myself, it was something I decided to look into when I got here." Then, looking at Barry and Lucas, she added, "Rina doesn't have much interest in that stuff."

"I know about Cynthia too, but only because she was one of the professor's old assistants," Melany said, then shrugged. "I looked up a few things when I got to Sinnoh myself and that was one of the things I dug up."

"Wh-what!" Rina yelled and shot Melany a glare. "You could have said something before now!"

Melany shrugged. "It never came up," she said, then looked toward Dawn. "So, anyway, seems you really have gotten quite a bit stronger if you've impressed the champion. Since you've got a week, you should keep training and teaching your pokemon new techniques."

"I have a pretty good idea about what I'm going to do until then," Dawn replied, a smirk crossing her lips. For once, it didn't involve video games either. _I know exactly who I need to talk to if I'm going to teach my pokemon any new moves. I wonder where I would find him though..._

"Well, before we do anything, we should go see Professor Rowan," Lucas suggested. "He'll want to know what happened here, and he'll want to see the lake pokemon for himself too."

"I guess it can't be helped then," Melany said, nodding in agreement. "Except for Ashley and Rina, I guess we all kinda report to him, huh?"

"Well, at this point, I might as well go too," Ashley said.

"And I have no reason to go anywhere else either," Rina said, settling the decision. They'd all go to see the professor.

Each trainer then called out their respective flying pokemon, some of which needed to be revived. Dawn now finally had a flight-capable pokemon in her fully evolved staraptor, though Captain Falcon didn't seem too impressed to have Dawn sitting on her back. Once they were all ready, all six trainers departed from the top of Mt. Coronet for Sandgem.

However, they were still one girl left up there.

With everyone else gone, Dusk was finally free to come out of the mountain entrance where she had been hiding. Folding her arms, Dusk looked around the Spear Pillar, surveying the damage. There was a giant hole from where Groudon popped up and the ground itself was warped around where Dialga and Palkia had been battling.

"Well, this place is pretty messed up now, that's for sure. I can't believe they actually pulled that off," Dusk mumbles to herself, then lets out a sigh. "More incredible than that... Dawn somehow beat Giratina. In the Torn World. And I haven't heard a thing from it since. Guess I'm on my own now..."

Turning to leave, Dusk stopped when she caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye and turned around again just in time to see the Griseous Orb fall to the ground. Smiling to herself, she walks over to the orb and picks it up. "Well, at least I can get my pokemon. And try to solve the mystery of where Giratina went.

* * *

Flying straight from Mt. Coronet, it took the trainers less than an hour to reach the pokemon laboratory in Sandgem. Once there, they immediately sought out Professor Rowan in his office and took turns explaining what had happened. Lucas and Melany explained what happened at Mt. Coronet itself, and Dawn explained what had happened in the Torn World.

"So it seems this... shadow pokemon you encountered is likely the one who gave Dusk her power," Professor Rowan said after Dawn finished her explanation, nodding thoughtfully. "Well, one way or another it seems like you've all had quite the adventure today."

Ashley shrugged. "Not really. Compared to some of the things we dealt with, this was pretty easy. The only reason it was even difficult at all was because something was giving them more power."

"Speak for yourself," Lucas grumbled. "Some of us are new to those whole 'save the world from rampaging, powered up legendary pokemon'."

"In any case, I certainly didn't imagine this would happen when I sent you boys out to investigate the lake pokemon," Rowan said, looking at the three psychic pokemon floating near their respective trainers. "In such a short amount of time, we've obtained the lake pokemon, the colossal pokemon Regigigas, have gathered some information on Dialga and Palkia, and seem to have discovered and gathered information on an unknown shadow pokemon." Rowan smiled and folded his hands behind his back. "Excellent work, all of you!"

"How's the research on Regigigas coming, anyway?" Melany asked Professor Rowan.

"Well, while you were gone we've been running tests to determine the relationship between it and the other golems," the professor explained. He turned to pick up a clipboard from his desk and then handed it to Melany. "Seeing as how they're your pokemon, you will probably find the results interesting." Melany held up the clipboard to take a look at it and Uxie floated over to her to take a peek as well.

"-What are you doing?-" Azelf asked the yellow-headed pixie.

"-Research,-" Uxie replied. "-I am the being of knowledge, it's only natural that I should want to seek it out and, if necessary, confirm whether the knowledge in question is correct or not."

"-Do you even realize what they're saying!-" Azelf growled. "-This is another lab! They're going to do more experiments on us!-"

"You can relax, the professor isn't going to do anything to hurt you," Rina said to Azelf, smiling reassuringly. Hearing Rina address it, though, Azelf was stunned and wheeled about to face her.

"-DON'T TALK TO ME SO CASUALLY! Only Barry is supposed to be able to understand what I'm saying!-" Azelf yelled at her.

"S-sorry!" Rina held her hands up defensively. "Understanding pokemon is just something I'm able to do..."

"Anyway..." Ashley interrupted. "Unless I'm needed for something else, I'll be going now. There's still a few places in Sinnoh I want to hit up for pictures, and I'm supposed to be meeting Professor Oak way out on route 224 in a few days. I want to get going so I can stop in a few areas along the way."

"No, I won't keep you," Rowan said, nodding to her. "Have a safe trip."

"And thanks for the assist back there!" Barry added, grinning. "If you didn't show up when you did... I don't even want to think about it!"

"Well, I definitely couldn't ignore what was going on in Sinnoh after someone went and blew up a lake," Ashley said to him. "Your welcome, though. Anyway, I'll see you guys around." Ashley then turned to leave.

"Wait!" Dawn called out to her. Ashley stopped and Dawn quickly looked back at the professor. "Professor Rowan, am I needed for anything?" she asked him.

"Well... nothing important at the moment, I suppose?" Professor Rowan replied and then raised an eyebrow at her. "Is something wrong?"

"Well, no," Dawn said, then turned back to Ashley. "There's just something I was hoping Ashley could help me with, if she happened to be stopping by Jublife that is..."

"I guess I could make a brief stop..." Ashley replied. She shrugged and then smiled at Dawn. "Alright, if you need me to help you with something in Jubilife let's get going."

"Right!" Dawn replied, nodding quickly. "Mesprit, Professor Rowan, I'm going to Jubilife but I'll drop by again later! See yas!" Dawn then caught up with Ashley and the two left the lab together.

"-Hold on! I'm getting left behind already!-" Mesprit said in disbelief, then sighed. "-Oh well. I got to beat some of that jerk Cyrus's pokemon at least.-"

Professor Rowan stroked his chin and stared curiously as Dawn left. "I wonder what's gotten into her all of a sudden?"

"Cynthia's making arrangements for Dawn to take the Sinnoh League challenge," Lucas explained. "I bet Dawn's getting ready for that."

"I see..." Rowan smirked. "How interesting. I wonder if Cynthia believes Dawn might be someone that could even challenge her?" After thinking about it for a moment, the professor chuckled and clapped his hands together.

"Well, nevermind that," he said. "Since you're all gathered here, let's get some research done, shall we?"

* * *

After departing from the lab, Dawn and Ashley took off from Sandgem on Captain Falcon and Zapdos respectively. It was a fairly short flight, even the walk from Sandgem to Jubilife is only across a short route. When they arrived in Jubilife they set down in front of the pokemon center, but they didn't go inside.

"Okay, so what did you need me here for exactly?" Ashley asked, looking at Dawn curiously. Zapdos, uninterested in the exchange, idly preened its jagged feathers, producing small sparks of electrictiy.

"Err... you'll see soon enough, I hope," Dawn replied. She didn't know if she would even have the right city for what she was doing. She was taking a gamble on Jubilife since it was the largest and most developed city in the region.

_This is annoying_, Captain Falcon thought to herself, glancing anxiously between the two girls. _Somehow I've managed to become fully evolved pokemon in this trainer's care, but because of that now I have to ferry her around!_ She glared at Dawn while she wasn't looking. _Hmph. I'll tolerate you. For now. But I still haven't forgotten the whole kidnapping me against my will thing._

After a few minutes of waiting, Ashley started to get impatient. "How long do you expect me to wait exactly?" she asked Dawn. Dawn turned to answer, but stopped when she noticed a young, sunglasses-wearing boy sauntering up to Ashley from behind.

"Well, hello there, beautiful!" the boy said, flashing a grin as Ashley turned around. "Whaddya say we go out to see a movie together? Maybe stop somewhere for a quiet dinner after?" A brief pause, then he added, "Then to a hotel, for a night of fun?"

"Cute..." Ashley muttered. Her hand twitched, barely able to resist punching the boy. "Well, I have time to kill it seems. So how about a quick battle?" Ashley replied, trying not to grin. "I have a pokemon with me that was given to me by my boyfriend, but if you can beat it in a one on one fight then I'll agree to a date."

_She's being surprisingly calm about this_, Dawn thought, a smile crossing her lips. _Seems like I got lucky though. He was really here afterall._

"Heh, alright, sounds good to me," the boy replied, then glanced over at Zapdos. "This the one?"

"No, you won't have to worry about that one," Ashley said. Zapdos seemed a bit disappointed that it wouldn't get to fight the boy, but it knew there was no helping that after Ashley said what pokemon she would fight him with. "And do you mind battling here? Since my friend has me waiting for..."

"Actually, he's the one I was waiting for, Ashley," Dawn interrupted, then waved to the boy. "Hey there, Marcus."

"Oh, it's Dawn again," Marcus waved back to her. "Looking for me, huh? Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I prefer older girls."

"That's not what I..." Dawn sighed. "Nevermind. If you two are going to battle there's no need to do it here where you'd have to worry about people or buildings."

"Guess there's no getting out of it now then." Ashley smirked and looked back at Dawn. "I don't exactly approve of being bait, but good technique at least."

Well, at least she isn't mad? Dawn thought, then took a pokeball in her hand and turned to Captain Falcon. "Okay, you can go back in your pokeball for now," she said, then recalled the bird pokemon.

The three trainers left Jubilife, but stopped next to the road just outside the city. Ashley and Marcus then distanced themselves in preparation for the battle. Zapdos had, of course, followed them and settled down just behind Ashley.

"Now, mind if I see what I'm going up against?" Marcus asked Ashley, still wearing a grin on his face.

"My, but doesn't that give you an unfair advantage?" Ashley replied, eye twitching slightly. Despite her protest, though, she was already reaching into her bag to retrieve the pokeball. "But if you insist, then here," Ashley held out the pokeball she grabbed and pressed the button, releasing a large, blue turtle pokemon with two cannons rising out of its shell and pointing over its shoulders.

"Don't recognize the species, but looks like a water pokemon to me," Marcus said, then took a pokeball from his belt. "Alright, let's go! Carnivine!" Marcus held out the pokeball and released his own pokemon, which looked like a large venus flytrap with vines dangling under it. The vines spun to act like propellers, lifting the pokemon off the ground.

"Carnivine, start with Power Whip!" Carnivine tilted forward, letting its vines propel it toward Blastoise. As it closed the distance between them, it flipped over in the air to bring those vines crashing down on Blastoise's head. Blastoise grunted from the hit, but stood strong.

"Blastoise, Blizzard!" With both pokemon still in the same position from Carnivine's attack, Blastoise pointed its twin cannons at Carnivine and opened fire. Instead of the usual high pressure water, snow and ice blasted the flytrap pokemon. Carnivine was flung back by the attack and ice coated parts of its body.

"Blastoise, Rapid Spin!" Not giving Marcus's pokemon a chance to recover, Blastoise quickly retracted into his shell and shot off toward Carnivine. When he hit, he started spinning rapidly, grinding against the grass pokemon's body until it was knocked back. After knocking Carnivine to the ground, Blastoise quickly emerged from its shell.

"Now finish it! Hydro Cannon!" Pointing its cannons at Carnivine again, Blastoise let loose two powerful torrents of water. The water engulfed Carnivine completely and mud was spraying up from where the water was hitting the ground. This kept up for several seconds until it finally trickled to a stop, leaving Carnivine resting in a muddy crater. After waiting a moment for it to get up, Marcus realized his pokemon really was knocked unconscious.

"Sheesh! I'm pretty confident in my pokemon, but that thing's stupidly strong!" Marcus said in disbelief. "Just what kind of trainer IS your boyfriend!"

"Oh, he was the champion of the Kanto Elite Four briefly," Ashley said with a slight smirk. "Blastoise is the evolved form one of three pokemon that were given out by Professor Oak. I have fully evolved versions of the other two as well."

"Then that means your boyfriend is..." Marcus gasped. "LEGENDARY TRAINER RED!"

_He's so far off the mark it isn't funny_, Ashley thought. A smirk crept across her face. _And I'm not even going to correct him._

"Who's Legendary Trainer Red?" Dawn asked.

"Red was the champion of Kanto before Ashley, but one day he just suddenly gave up the title to her and disappeared," Marcus replied. "They say Red was an unimaginably powerful trainer and had a rare grass, fire, and water trio among his team of pokemon. No one knows where he is now, but rumor has it he's gone into hiding for some serious training for some reason." Marcus grinned and shook his head. "Man, if that's true, I don't even want to think about how strong his pokemon must be now..."

I never knew Red was that famous, Ashley thought as she took Blastoise's pokeball in her hand again. "Blastoise, good job. You can rest now." Ashley returned Blastoise to its pokeball and then jumped up on Zapdos's back. "Well, now that that's done with, I'm off. See you around, Dawn!" Zapdos then spread its wings and took off, flying high into the sky.

Marcus let out a sigh and finally recalled his own pokemon, then flopped back on the ground. "Man... I can't believe I lost so easily. I guess I should have expected that from someone like her though..."

"You seem pretty informed," Dawn said to him.

"I like to keep up with the news regarding leagues since my job kinda ties into it," Marcus replied, then looked at Dawn curiously. "Oh yeah, you were looking for me, right? Finally got your hands on some shards?"

"Err..." Dawn smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck. "Actually... I wouldn't know a shard even if I saw one."

"They're kinda jagged pieces of different colored crystals, you can find them all over the place underground," Marcus said to her.

Dawn let out an exasperated sigh. "That figures... I found a whole bunch of those things underground but left them in my base..."

"You'd need to make sure you have the right ones anyway," Marcus replied, then finally stood up and dusted himself off. Looking to Dawn again, he asked, "What's with the sudden interest anyway?"

"I'm challenging the Sinnoh League in a week's time," she said.

"That so?" Marcus grinned and then reached into his pocket, taking out a small card. "Well, how about I give you my family's business card then? There's a link to a website on it that will show you where I am in Sinnoh and what shards you need for us to teach different techniques. You can even download a poketch app that'll show where I am on a map of Sinnoh."

Marcus walked up to Dawn and handed her the card. The card displayed the family name, Millan, as well as the business name, Millan Move Tutors. The business, according to the card, was run by a man named Cesar. Dawn could only assume that to be Marcus's father. The link Marcus mentioned was at the bottom.

"That sounds like a useful link," Dawn mused, then pocketed the card.

"By the way, you should check out the GTS in Jubilife and the Pal Park to the southeast of Sandgem. You might be able to find some strong pokemon there, even pokemon from other regions." Marcus grinned. "In fact, I found that Ursaring of mine at the Pal Park. It was still being tamed at the time 'cause it was pretty vicious back then but someone let it into the park by mistake. I managed to catch it, though, and taming a pokemon like that was no problem for my folks."

"Sounds like your family is pretty good at training pokemon," Dawn said. "I think I will check those out then..."

"Good on ya. And come see me when you get lots of shards," Marcus said, then walked past Dawn heading back into Jubilife.

"GTS... Pal Park... Underground..." Dawn sighed. "Well, it won't be a boring week anyway..."

* * *

Author's Notes: This chapter almost felt like an epilogue, though I did end up putting in a short battle. Next chapter I'll probably be covering both the underground again and the GTS. As you might recall, Dawn actually left a few things of interest down there.

And, well, Dawn's finally challenging the league! Any guesses as to what Cynthia will be setting up? Here's a bit of a clue: all the gym battles will take place in the same location.


	42. Chapter 41: The Underground, Take Two!

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 41**

**The Underground, Take Two!**

After talking with Marcus and realizing her planned stops would mean backtracking one way or another, she immediately set out for Oreburgh. She considered spending the night at a hotel there, but it was fairly late by the time Dawn arrived in the city and by then her decision had been made for her. Being mostly a mining city, there was only a single hotel and it was booked solid by the time Dawn was looking for a place to stay.

As a result, Dawn ended up making an early trip underground. She had originally planned to wait until the next morning, but under the circumstances she would have to camp out anyway. So she decided she might as well camp out underground, knowing she'd be going there the next morning anyway. Taking the proper route into the Sinnoh underground, she signed in at the Oreburgh Mine and went down.

Dawn spent the night underground, doing a little bit of digging before going to her secret base to sleep. She was somewhat surprised, given how much time had passed since she was last there, that all her stuff was there and untouched. In fact, her base had actually accumulated a fair bit of dust that had to be swept away before she could sleep. She'd spend the night sleeping away in her base, then get straight back to digging the next morning.

"Another green one... I think I almost have enough shards now," Dawn said to herself, then tossed her recently dug up shard into a pile with the rest of her treasures. Most of what she had found consisted of shards and spheres, aside from a single bone. Dawn wasn't sure if the bone had any value or not, but she was taking it anyway.

After setting aside the green shard, Dawn picked up her pickaxe and started swinging at the wall again. Each strike with the pickaxe pierced into the rock, chipping away bit by bit to avoid damaging any treasure that might be hidden within. After a bit more chipping, the rock gave way to a green glint just underneath.

Dawn let out a sigh. "And another... I must have found the motherlode of green shards..." Shrugging, she put down her pickaxe and picked up a small hammer and chisel from the small, brown box that lay at her feet. The box had a strap on it for easy carrying. It was something she received when she signed in at the mine. "Well, another shard is another shard..."

With the hammer and chisel, Dawn carefully chipped away at the rock surrounding that green glint. Slowly the green shard hidden in the rock began to reveal itself. After the full shard had been uncovered, she chipped away around the edges until the shard fell free. Dawn picked the shard up and tossed it into her pile. Most of the shards in that pile were green, though barely noticeable with all the various colors of spheres mixed in.

"I'm starting to think I should just try another spot," Dawn mumbled to herself. Looking back at the rock wall, she pictured all the green shards that likely lied within. While looking at the wall, though, she noticed a peculiar pattern near where she had dug out the last green shard.

"Hmm... that looks a bit round to be a normal rock..." Dawn mused, then took up her chisel and hammer again. "Wonder what it could be? Another fossil?" Dawn had already found one fossil during her last visit to the underground, which had been stored away in her base ever since. The fossil she already had looked like the top of a pokemon's skull. As she chipped away at the rock surrounding this new fossil, the shape that slowly revealed itself reminded her of a shield.

A bit more chipping away and she had uncovered the front of the fossil, which was conveniently facing her, completely. It really did look a lot like a shield. Dawn then began chipping away at the sides to try to dig it out from the wall, making sure she was ready to catch it when the fossil finally came loose. Then, with the fossil in her hands, she took a good look at it.

"Definitely looks like a shield. I wonder if I could sell these fossils to the museum here in Oreburgh?" After examining the fossil, Dawn set it aside and dug her pickaxe into the wall again. This time, her digging only uncovered spheres. "More spheres... but the dwarves use those for currency. I wonder if I could pick up some useful items from them before challenging the gym leaders?"

After thinking about it for a moment, Dawn nodded to herself. "That's right, if I'm getting ready for the final battles then I'm at the point where dwarves would have either made something very useful or I have the right items for them to do so." Dawn looked at her gathering of treasure, and then at the spheres still embedded in the wall.

"A few more spheres... a few more shards... then, I'll go see if the dwarves have anything interesting!" With that, Dawn went at the wall with a renewed vigor. Before even an hour was up, she had dug a few sizeable holes after switching locations twice. She had managed to come across a variety of evolution stones, spheres, shards, and a strange, crystalized rock. It was a decent pile of treasure to be sure for only a few hours work.

Of course, finding the treasure was only part of the work. Particularly since Dawn had found so much. Without anything to really carry her finds in, carrying it all back to her secret base took some time on its own. Getting it all to the surface was going to be even harder. With so much stuff to go so far, she'd definitely need some way of carrying it all out. After moving all her treasure into her secret base, Dawn mulled over her new problem.

"What I need... are boxes..." Dawn muttered to herself, then glanced over at her bike. It also had ended up being stored underground. "If I could get a box or two on wheels, and tie them to the back of my bike, I could tow all this junk to the mine carts. I think I could get home with it all by bike that way, too. But where to get something like that..."

It didn't take long for Dawn to figure out a solution, one which caused her to let out a deep sigh. "So much for getting any legendary weapons or anything like that. Looks like I'll be spending all my spheres on traps..."

Her decision made, Dawn turned and left her secret base. From there, she wandered through the underground through a path she had memorized long ago. Eventually this path lead her to another secret base, though it wasn't quite so secret. Outside that base was where she would usually find the 'dwarf' that would sell her traps to protect her base. Today, though, he wasn't there.

_In the base maybe?_ Dawn thought. Walking over to the opening, the stopped and knocked on the rock wall next to it. That worked as well as could be expected, producing barely a tap. Not loud enough to get anyone's attention. So Dawn tried calling out instead. "Hello? Anyone in there?"

"Oh? Is that a customer?" a voice called back. Dawn could then hear footsteps approaching from within and stood back. A short, burly man then drew back the curtain that covered the opening and saw Dawn standing outside. "Ah, Dawn, right? What can I help you with?"

"What else?" Dawn asked with a sly smirk. "I need traps. And not the kind that make boys question their sexuality. Actually, I'm looking to make wheeled boxes out of them."

The hiker, whom Dawn referred to as a dwarf, raised an eyebrow at Dawn's comment on traps. The eyebrow remained raised as Dawn went on to explain her intentions. "Use traps to make wheeled boxes..." the hiker stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I suppose I could help with that, assuming you have the spheres for the traps themselves."

"I can pay you two spheres now, and give you the rest of my spheres when I get the boxes back to my base," Dawn replied, then held out her hands to the hiker. In one hand, she held a blue sphere, in the other a red sphere. Dawn, of course, wasn't too worried about giving up all her spheres. Even if she needed more later, they were fairly easy to find.

"Of course. To carry them all..." he mumbled and nodded, not even considering that Dawn might be trying to pull a fast one on him. Raising his hand, he motioned for Dawn to follow him. "Come on in then," he said, then went back inside. Dawn followed along behind him.

Though this wasn't the first time Dawn had dealt with the trap making hiker, it was the first time she had seen his base of operations. It wasn't much bigger than her own, but where her's was full of junk, the hiker's mostly had two things: spheres and traps. The spheres were all piled up in a corner but the traps were all over the place and in various stages of completion. The wall of the base was entirely covered in trap tiles, and parts to make the traps were strewn about.

"Let's see now... you'll probably want to put tiles together to form the sides and bottom of the boxes..." the hiker mumbled, grabbing several tiles from a stack near the entrance. "And wheels..." The hiker moved through the room to where a work bench was set up along the right side. Under the work bench were several cardboard boxes. After digging around through one box, he pulled out a few wheels and set them down on the workbench.

_I'm definitely going to be way overpaying for these compared to how much a trap costs_, Dawn thought. _But then again... I might never have to come back here again anyway. I've got more shards than I need and a bunch of weird stuff that I don't. So I'm all set._

The hiker set to work on Dawn's request, first starting by making the boxes themselves. Individual tiles were welded together into several two-by-two panels. The panels would form the bottom and sides of the boxes. Though each box would be fairly big, Dawn still figured she'd need two of them. After he had five panels ready, the hiker then welded them together to form a topless box.

Of course, the process of welding together the tiles to form a box took quite some time. Shortly into the welding, Dawn had taken a seat leaning against the wall near the entrance and took out her pokedex. While she was waiting for the hiker to make her boxes, she decided she would look over her own pokemon's info in the pokedex. This would help her decide on training methods, figure out how to evolve them, and figure out what techniques they should be taught.

Over an hour later, the boxes themselves were finally complete. The rest, from that point on, was much easier. All he really had left to do was put the wheels on, and he made sure to have wheel-bearing tiles in convenient locations on the bottom panels for the wheels to go in. As a result, it was just a matter of screwing them in. At Dawn's request, he also drilled holes near the top for a rope to go through.

"There we go. Though it was an unusual request, the two boxes are complete," the hiker said to Dawn. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to..."

"Get the rest of your spheres?" Dawn asked, interrupting him. She slowly stood up, grunting from the effort due to having been sitting down for so long. She stretched her arms and legs and then said, "Follow me then, and take one of the boxes with you."

Dawn and the hiker then left the secret base, each of them dragging one of the large, wheeled boxes behind them. The boxes themselves, due to the construction materials used, were actually fairly heavy. Dawn worried that she might not be able to move them while on her bike. Of course, it hardly mattered now. Even if her bike plan didn't work, she had the boxes, and had brought Jax with her today. She'd have him carry one if need be.

But, first things first, the spheres. Upon returning to her secret base, Dawn took one of the boxes and loaded it up with all her spheres, nearly filling it to the top. The hiker was surprised by how many spheres he was getting, but definitely wasn't complaining. He did use a lot of his trapmaking supplies, afterall. Dawn then took out her bike and hooked a rope between her bike and the box, then rode her bike back to the hiker's base and towed the box behind her. Once there, she unloaded the box, paying the hiker back for his services before returning to her base again.

Once back at her base, the loading process started again. This time, she was loading up all her junk. Shards went in one box, everything else went in another, and one fossil was placed on top of each. She was worried about them the most, afterall. After loading up both boxes, she came to the realization that she could only really put the rope through one of them.

"Guess the weight won't be an issue anyway..." she mumbled, looking over the two boxes, then reached for a pokeball. "Okay, Jax, looks like I'll need your help here! Come on out!" Dawn turned and held out the pokeball toward the middle of her base, releasing the muscular fighting pokemon from his confines.

"Jax, I need you to... huh?" Almost immediately after Dawn had released Jax from his pokeball, his body began to emit a white light. Being transfered to and from Dawn's pokemon storage had met the requirements for him to evolve into his final form. Though his body only seemed to become slightly larger, bulkier, the most notable change was its arms. He gained an extra pair of them. The light then vanished as the evolution ended, revealing Jax's fully evolved form.

"Okay, didn't expect that," Dawn said, blinking in disbelief. She quickly shook her head and then gestured toward her trap-tile boxes. "Jax, I need some help moving these, so why don't you try lifting..." Dawn didn't even get to finish speaking before Jax moved toward the two crates and picked them up, carrying one under each set of arms.

"-Huh, you need help with these? Humans must be pretty weak.-" Jax said. "-Or maybe I'm just strong? Heck, I feel like I could juggle fully evolved golems now!-"

"Showoff..." Dawn mumbled. Jax snickered at her. "Well, whatever. If you're fine with that, then follow me. I'll be taking my bike." Dawn then walked over to her bike, which was leaning against the wall, and picked it up. She wheeled the bike out of her base and was followed by Jax, who had to walk out sideways while carrying the boxes.

Dawn biked from her secret base to the mine entrance; a large, slanted shaft with two tracks for mine carts. As usual, one of the mine carts was already there when she arrived. It took her almost as long to get there as it would have on foot, though, as she had to pedal a bit slower for Jax's sake. Once at the entrance, she hefted her bike into the mine cart and then hopped in. Jax then got in after her, with Dawn making sure he didn't step on her bike.

With everything loaded into the mine cart, Dawn pressed the button for it to go up. The cart shook and started to slowly edge forward, picking up speed as it neared the slope and maintaining a steady pace as it went up. Another minecart came rumbling down beside them soon after, replacing the cart they were using for the sake of anyone else that might still be underground.

Once at the top, Dawn unloaded her bike and Jax stepped out from the cart. After signing out at the nearby desk, Dawn rode her bike out of the mine with Jax following behind her. Contrary to her usual habit, she didn't head for the pokemon center. Only Jax had been outside a pokeball since her last visit. Instead, her first stop took her to the museum. There, she had Jax wait outside while she went in with the two fossils and walked up to the front desk.

"Excuse me! I'd like to sell these fossils!" Dawn said, then plopped the two down on the desk. The attendant there took one look at the fossils and then narrowed her eyes at Dawn.

"We do not buy fossils, miss, especially these ones," the attendant replied. "Putting fossils on display, or keeping them for study, is rather pointless in an age where pokemon can be resurrected from fossils, don't you think?"

"I didn't think of that at all, even though it makes sense..." Dawn replied, shoulders drooping.

"If you're interested in getting them revived, I suppose I could help you with that," said a staff member standing near the desk. He walked over and picked up the fossils, grunting from the effort, then looked at Dawn. "Well?"

_If I can't get money for them, then I guess that's all that's left_, Dawn thought disappointedly, then nodded to him.

"Do you have at least two empty pokeballs?" he asked. Again, Dawn nodded. "Very well. Follow me, then." The museum staff member then lead Dawn into a back room through a door near the desk, passing through a hallway lined with storage lockers filled with uniforms and supplies before reaching a room marked 'lab'.

In the lab, Dawn found many odd devices. The one that stuck out in particular was a room-high, cylindrical machine with a control console at the base. Just above the console was a transparent section of the device. As the two of them moved closer, Dawn could make out a hatch on the transparent section. The purpose of this hatch was plainly obvious to her even before the museum staff member opened it and placed the first fossil inside.

"I'll need one of those pokeballs," he said tersely as he turned to Dawn. Dawn nodded and opened her travel bag to retrieve one.

_Straight to the point, isn't he?_ Dawn thought. After rooting around a bit, she found where her pokeballs were hidden and took out two. She then handed them to the staff member, who then inserted one of them into a slot on the control panel. He then pressed a few buttons on the panel itself.

"This shouldn't take more than a few moments," he said to her. If he were to say anything after, it would have been drowned out by the noise of the machine as it hummed and beeped to life. As the machine went to work, the transparent chamber became filled with a white light. It happened too fast for Dawn to tell, but she thought she saw that light coming from the fossil itself...

After a few minutes of this light filling the chamber, it finally began to fade. What the fading light revealed was a small, brown pokemon with a short, stubby tail. A metal plate covered part of its back, and it wore a shield-like mask on its face. Dawn only got to see it briefly, though. The pokemon soon disappeared in a flash of red, getting pulled into the pokeball hidden in the device. A message then appeared on the console, indicating to the staff member that it was sent off to storage.

"That pokemon was a shieldon," the man explained to Dawn. "Nothing can penetrate the defenses of its evolved form."

The staff member then opened the hatch again and placed the remaining fossil inside, followed by inserting another pokeball into the slot on the console. The machine was started up again and light filled the transparent chamber. Then, after a few minutes, the light faded to reveal another revived pokemon. This one was much more familiar to Dawn. It was a cranidos, the same pokemon Roark had that gave her so much trouble.

"That's cranidos," the man explained just before the pokemon vanished into a hidden pokeball. "Its evolved form, ramparados, has enough power to break through even the toughest armor."

_Wait a minute!_ Dawn thought. _Impenetrable defenses? Unstoppable attacks!_

"**OBJECTION!**" Dawn yelled so loudly that she almost startled the museum staff member into falling over. "That's a contradiction! If one pokemon is the ultimate shield then you can't have the ultimate sword too!" she yelled. As the staff member regained his composure, though, he turned to Dawn and glared.

"GET OUT!"

* * *

And so, after having both of her fossils revived instead of selling them for cash, Dawn was unceremoniously kicked out of the museum for her sudden outburst. Now, forced outside and standing next to Jax, Dawn contemplated her next move.

"Well, no matter what, we're finished in Oreburgh now..." Dawn mumbled to herself. "Next... I guess I'd like to take this junk and drop it off home," she said, looking over at the boxes Jax was carrying. "But we'd have to go through Jubilife anyway at this point, since I doubt I could fly home with all that stuff. And if I'm going through Jubilife again, I might as well check out the GTS. Mind carrying that stuff a bit longer?"

"-I'm carrying stuff?-" Jax grinned. "-I barely noticed.-"

"I'll take that as a no, then..."

* * *

Dawn left Oreburgh City and embarked on a journey for Jubilife. The distance between the two cities was short, but it didn't feel short to Dawn. For the whole trip, taking almost an hour, she was again peddaling her bike slowly so Jax could keep up. Once she arrived in Jubilife, she again skipped her usual stop by the pokemon center and continued toward the western end of the city. There, she entered the GTS building.

The GTS was the only place where trainers could come to trade with other trainers in the world. As such, there were quite a few trainers in the large lobby Dawn stepped into. Jax was waiting outside again, guarding both Dawn's junk and her bike. Most of the trainers in there were watching screens situated on each wall of the lobby, displaying current trades and showing what pokemon were most requested and what pokemon were put up for offer the most.

Dawn ignored all the trainers and screens and walked right up to the reception desk, where a lady in a business suit waited. "Excuse me, I'd like to make a few trades over the GTS. What do I have to do to sign up for that?"

"Oh, I just need to see your trainer's license, please," the receptionist replied, offering a smile. Dawn quickly took out her license and handed it over. The receptionist quickly looked it over and then put it through a scanner. After messing around with a computer behind the desk for a moment, she then handed the license back to Dawn. "There you go! All set!"

"Wait, that's it?" Dawn asked, blinking in disbelief.

"That's it!" the receptionist replied. "Now, right this way, please!" she said, then opened a divider in the desk so Dawn could come through. Behind the desk was a door, which Dawn was ushered through into a room filled with what looked like typical pokemon center computers. Tall computers you could use while standing up, with a pokeball tray on the side for transfers.

Many of these computers were already taken by other trainers, who were busy trying to make a trade. It didn't take her long to find a free one, though, and the screen of the computer she found greeted her with a search engine with a variety of items that could be set.

"Wow, this looks pretty complex..." she muttered as she looked it over. "Okay, so I can put up a pokemon for trade and request a specific pokemon in return. I can look up a pokemon and see what people want in return for it. Or I can look up a pokemon and see what people are willing to trade for it. Hmm..."

With that last option in mind, Dawn's thoughts immediately went to the two pokemon she had just received. Apparently, using the GTS, Dawn could make trades straight out of storage. And she had yet to introduce herself to her newly obtained cranidos and shieldon, so they weren't attached to her, nor was she attached to them.

"So let's see what I can get in exchange for... the shieldon..." she mumbled. Out of the two pokemon she had obtained, it seemed like the lesser of the two. She simply couldn't see the value of such a strongly defensive pokemon, thus keeping the cranidos would be more preferable in the end.

The results, considering shieldon was a rare pokemon, were rather disappointing for Dawn.

"Bidoof... rattata... zorua, whatever that is..." Dawn sighed. "People really expect trades like these to go through? I doubt I'll find anything... oh?" Just as Dawn was starting to doubt the possibility of finding an interesting pokemon up for trade, she came across a curious-looking fish pokemon.

"That... I think I've seen something LIKE that before... so that must be its evolved form?" Dawn poked at the computer's touch-sensitive screen, bringing up more info on the pokemon. "Lumineon... I think I can recall seeing a pokemon named 'finneon' before..." Dawn contemplated the information on the screen and the potential trade before her, then finally made up her mind.

"Okay, I think I'll make this trade," she said, then started pressing buttons on the screen. "I could use a water-type pokemon, and this one looks like a pretty good deal. An evolved pokemon for an unevolved, rare pokemon. So let's do this."

Dawn pressed a few more on-screen buttons and then watched a short animation showing shieldon being put into a pokeball and flung off into the air, followed by another pokeball dropping down and opening to reveal a blue fish pokemon with fins that made it look almost like a butterfly. After the animation ended, Dawn stared blankly at the screen for a moment.

"...And done, apparently," she said in disbelief, then shrugged. "Oh well, guess I'm done here." Dawn turned and started off on her way out of the trade room.

_I've gotten two new pokemon today at any rate and the day's barely half over yet_, Dawn thought. _Next stop, home to drop off all my junk. After that?_ Dawn smirked. _After that, I think I'll fly over and check out that Pal Park!_

* * *

Author's Notes: You'll notice that the GTS, as I depicted it, has one option that the in-game GTS doesn't and I, for one, so greatly wish it had. Why do I wish it had this feature? Because I often find myself in the situation Dawn was in. I have pokemon X that I want to trade off, not really looking for anything specific, and want to see what people are already offering for that pokemon. Unfortunately, with the in-game GTS, I can't do that. Bleh...

A bit late-ish with this one, looking at the time now. Normally I'd long since be in bed (hopefully with this done) but knowing I can stay up later due to having tomorrow off caused me to procrastinate a bit. This chapter covered the underground a bit more in depth, had Jax evolve (I'm substituting pc transfer for actual trading to trigger trade evolutions), and briefly covered the GTS. I knew from the start I'd only have a small bit on the GTS, though, since it was basically just Dawn going there and trading off shieldon.

...And, of course, after already being late finish, I couldn't log in due to the server upgrades. Doh.

So why Lumineon, you're probably asking? Well, why not? It's a lesser-used water pokemon with some fairly interesting options even if it isn't that good at them. Fun fact, it also gets a bit of a boost in the 5th gen now that storm drain both negates water attacks and gives the pokemon a special attack increase.

6 days remain until Dawn's league challenge.


	43. Chapter 42: No Pals in Pal Park

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 42**

**No Pals in Pal Park  
**

"MOM! I'm home, but I'm just dropping off a bunch of stuff!" Dawn called out as she stepped through the front door of her home. Jax followed behind her, stepping through the door sideways. Dawn then lead him up the stairs, past the living room where her mother had been napping on the couch. Too groggy from just being woken up to say anything, she Joanne watched silently as her daughter and a machamp carrying two boxes of junk passed by.

_What on Earth...?_ Joanne wondered. Letting out a sigh, she sat up on the couch, deciding her nap was over now. "That girl... barging in unannounced, making a racket... no manners at all..." she mumbled tiredly.

Dawn went up to her room with Jax, where she had the fighting pokemon deposit the two boxes next to her bed. After that, she recalled Jax, and headed back downstairs.

"Okay! I'm off again! Bye Mom!" Dawn called out again as she ran past the living room, heading out the front door. Once outside, she quickly called out Captain Falcon and took off into the air on her back.

"She certainly seems to be in a hurry..." Joanne noted, blinking in confusion. "I wonder what it was she dropped off just now?" Curious, Joanne headed upstairs and took a left into Dawn's bedroom to see what was in the boxes her daughter had dropped off. When she saw the contents, she frowned and wrinkled her nose.

"What IS all this junk she's collected?" Joanne wondered aloud, then let out a sigh and glanced toward Dawn's pile of old, unused gaming systems. "It could be worse, I guess. It could be worse..."

* * *

Taking off from Twinleaf, Dawn's destination was almost directly to the east. The flight took less than half an hour without making any stops and, before long, Dawn could see the Pal Park looming in the distance.

At a glance, the Pal Park looked similar to a Safari Zone. There was a large, open, wilderness area surrounded on all sides by a steep hill. At the southern end of this wilderness area, a red and white building nestled in between a gap in the hills. Dawn immediately realized she would have to go through that building to gain access to the park. As she got closer, she could also make out entrances on the park side of the hill.

"Those must be holding pens... or maybe they're shelters?" Dawn reasoned, then shrugged. "Whatever. Captain Falcon, take us down in front of that building there." Captain Falcon nodded and began a slow descent, eventually setting down in front of the Pal Park entrance. There, Dawn dismounted from Captain Falcon and recalled her, then entered the building.

At first, Dawn was confused. The inside of the building seemed very much like a pokemon center. The differences began to settle in after a moment, though. The biggest of which was the large door directly behind the front desk, and a man in a hard hat blocking access to it. There was also a flight of stairs going up to what looked like an observation deck.

Probably to see what pokemon are out there, just like at the Great Marsh, Dawn thought to herself, then walked up to the hard hat wearing man. "Excuse me, would I be able to get in there?"

"Well, of course!" the man replied. "Is this your first time here?" he asked. Dawn nodded. "You'll need to sign up over there, then," he said, pointing toward a woman dressed in a more typical park ranger uniform. Red vest over a green shirt, khaki shorts. She was waiting for Dawn when she approached the desk, having overheard the conversation.

"Hello, there! Have your trainer id with you?" the lady asked.

"Never leave home without it, not that I go home often," Dawn replied. She took out her trainer's license and handed it to the lady. The lady then quickly inserted it into the computer and scanned it, recording Dawn's id. After that, she handed the license back to her.

"You're all set now," the lady said. "You may now enter the park once for free. You will be charged an entrance fee on subsequent visits, however. You will be given one pokeball, a special ball that will catch Pal Park pokemon without fail but only Pal Park pokemon. There's no time limit, but you will have to leave after catching this one pokemon."

"That's a pretty strict limit. I really only get one?" Dawn asked.

"That's correct," the lady replied. "The Pal Park exists primarily for trainers who have been unable to obtain a starter pokemon by other means, such as a gift from a relative or being lucky enough to live in an area with weak, easy to capture pokemon. There's more than enough to go around, but there wouldn't be if we let established trainers take them all. Even a maximum of six would be a bit much."

"Oh... I had no idea that's what the Pal Park was for," Dawn replied. "I thought it was just a place for pokemon to be transferred from other regions."

"There's already ways to do such a thing," the lady replied. "One last thing, the pokemon will try to avoid you. So don't expect to easily catch any pokemon you want, even though you have a park ball."

"Right, I'll keep that in mind," Dawn replied, then walked back over to speak with the man in the hard hat. "I can go in now, right?"

"Of course. Just let me scan your id." Dawn handed over her license, which she fortunately had yet to put away, to the man. He quickly scanned it to confirm Dawn was registered in the system, then handed it back to her. "Okay then, everything checks out!" the man replied, then reached into a box hidden behind the desk and took out a pokeball to hand to Dawn. "And here's your park ball. Good luck with your hunt!"

"Thanks!" Dawn replied. The man then stepped aside, allowing Dawn to move past him and enter the park. From the inside, the park was starting to look much bigger to Dawn than it did during her approach. It was also noticeably set up into four distinct habitats.

In the northeast area of the park, it was set up with a mountainous terrain. A large, rocky hill rose up out of the ground. It was far too steep for Dawn to even consider climbing, though she could just barely make out steps going up the hill. Even from where she was standing, she could make out the forms of a variety of pokemon claiming the faux mountain as their home.

To the west of the mountain, and directly north of the vast, grassy plain Dawn found herself in now, was a forest. There was a single wide path through it, though Dawn could make out at least one branch path from where she stood. The trees were fairly thick and there was quite a variety of them. Dawn didn't recognize some of the trees. More pokemon could be seen hiding among them, as well as hiding in the tall grass that covered the plain.

Finally, to the east of Dawn was a small beach and an artificial ocean with several rocks rising from it. Near the hills at the edge of the park was a long line of pointed, tall rocks that formed a sort of barrier. In the clear, blue waters of this artificial ocean, Dawn could make out the odd shape swimming about.

"Huh... this place doesn't look like it'd be easy to navigate, that's for sure..." Dawn said to herself. "I'd definitely need a pokemon to ride to check out the water, but I'm pretty sure this is a no fly zone so I couldn't use Captain Falcon. I'd need a water pokemon to ride..." Dawn shrugged. "Oh well. I just got a water-type pokemon anyway. So I'll check out the grass first and see if I can find anything."

With that in mind, Dawn approached the tall grass. She couldn't see any pokemon and the grass was up past her knees. As she walked through it, though, she was sure she could hear the sounds of movement around her. Feet scampering away, bodies slithering through the grass. Catching a flash of movement, she turned in time to see a small, feline pokemon with a charm on its head running away.

"Yeah, finding this pokemon isn't going to be easy," Dawn muttered to herself and rubbed the back of her neck. "I'll need to see the pokemon to even decide whether or not I want to catch it, and the pokemon could run while I'm still making up my mind..."

"Oh, you're here too?" Hearing a familiar voice, Dawn turned around to find May standing behind her.

"So even someone like May comes here to catch a pokemon?" Dawn asked her, blinking in disbelief.

"Oh, no, I'm definitely not here to catch anything," May replied, smiling at her. "Actually, a lot of the pokemon here are pokemon I caught for Professor Birch's research back in Hoenn. So I decided to come here and see what it was like."

"You must have caught a lot of pokemon, then..."

"Well, yeah, there's a lot of different species afterall," May said, shrugging. "I didn't want to just catch and release though, or leave them sitting in storage, so all the pokemon I caught for research were donated to Pal Parks like this one. Though I don't know what pokemon went where, and it's not like I'd recognize them or they'd recognize me."

"Makes sense. If you're going to give up a pokemon, it's better it doesn't get to know you first," Dawn said, thinking back on her own experience with such a situation only hours before. After managing to get two fossil pokemon revived and sent straight to her storage, Dawn ended up using one of them to make a trade on the GTS. In retrospect, she had to admit she did make that trade rather quickly and without seriously considering her other options. She certainly hoped it was worthwhile, since she had yet to see her new Lumineon for herself.

"Now that I think about it, didn't you recently catch a pokemon you probably don't want?" Dawn asked. Seeing the confused look May gave her in response, she decided to elaborate. "The bibarel you caught at the Great Marsh?"

"Oh, no, I'm keeping that," May replied, grinning slightly. "I noticed something... interesting about it. Something I can use to completely humiliate a certain someone in a pokemon battle."

"Is it Melany?" Dawn asked her.

"Hmph. Good guess!" May smirked and folded her arms in front of her. "I can beat her any day of the week, but her golems are still a pain. She has an annoying habit of maximizing their defenses and using Rest to restore any damage they take. In fact, she likes using stat-boosting moves a lot in general. Which is where that bibarel comes into play."

"Oh yeah! I remember hearing that!" Dawn stifled a giggle before explaining it to May. "They say bibarel and its pre-evolution bidoof are so stupid they don't notice the ability increases. So they call that ability 'Unaware'!" Both girls ended up laughing at that.

"S-so they're really... idiots..." May managed to say between fits of laughter, then finally managed to calm herself down. She wiped a tear from her eye with her glove. "Whew... beating Melany with a pokemon like that... I bet she'd be scarred for life!"

"Why don't you meet up with her after you're done here then and test that theory?" Dawn suggested.

"Wh-what! No way!" May quickly shot back, shaking her head. "She's... uh... probably busy... or something..."

Huh? That was a weird response, Dawn thought, then shrugged. "Well, you're probably right actually. Last I saw her, she was with Professor Rowan, so she's probably busy with research."

"See? Totally busy!" May nodded, then asked, "Anyway, what kind of a pokemon are you looking for here?"

"Ah..." Dawn thought for a moment. She didn't have anything specific in mind. And when she thought about it, there wasn't any type she really needed either. The only type she didn't seem to have covered, as of her most recent team additions, was ghost. Though, admittedly, her steel-type pokemon didn't seem like much of a steel-type, and her psychic-type was a legendary pokemon. On the other hand, was it really important for her to have all types covered like that?

"A ghost-type would be nice I guess, but I'm not looking for anything specific," Dawn said to May. She took a quick glance around the grassy field before giving May a curious look. "Any suggestions?"

"Find a ghost?" May suggested with a shrug. Taking a quick look around, she happened to glance down and saw a very small, yellow, spider-like pokemon crawling through the grass. "Or if you're really not that concerned, you could catch that." Dawn followed May's gaze and gasped.

"CUTE!" Dawn squealed. This seemed to startle the poor pokemon, sending it quickly scrambling into the tall grass. "No! Wait! Come back!" Dawn said frantically. She dropped down onto her hands and knees and started pulling grass aside, trying to find the unknown pokemon that she had startled, but with no luck. Defeated, she let out a sigh and stood up. "I guess something like that can just hide too easily here..."

"Should probably try for a bigger pokemon, then. Or maybe try a different area," May suggested. "Anyway, I'm going to take off now. See you around, Dawn!"

"Alright, bye May!" Dawn waved to her as May moved toward the exit. She watched as she was leaving for a moment and then turned to scan the grassy field again. In the distance she could see a few pokemon that stood taller than the grass. At least one of which, a bull pokemon with three tails, was glaring at her suspiciously. All of the pokemon she could see were definitely keeping their distance, though.

"Open terrain like this sure is bad to try to catch pokemon in," Dawn noted, then took her lone park ball in her hand. "Well, might as well give this a shot since it works without fail! Let's see if I can catch that horned one!" Winding her arm back, Dawn gave the park ball a good, hard toss, sending it soaring through the air toward the bull pokemon. The rest of the pokemon nearby quickly scattered, but the bull pokemon didn't move.

_Yes! I'll definitely be catching this one!_ Dawn thought as she watched her park ball descend toward it. It confused her to think that the pokemon she was aiming for wouldn't move, but she wouldn't complain about an easy capture. An easy capture she would apparently be denied. Rather than take a hit from Dawn's capture ball, the bull pokemon spun around and struck the ball with his three tails, sending it flying back to Dawn. She just barely managed to catch it.

"Or not..." Dawn muttered and let out a sigh. "This park ball can catch any pokemon here without fail... but it really seems like the pokemon here are still going to make me earn my catch in any way they can... maybe I should just try a different area now?" Dawn looked toward the forest entrance and nodded to herself. If the field pokemon were going to be a pain, she'd try the forest next.

Dawn made her way through the field toward where the line of trees started, with the wild bull pokemon keeping a wary eye on her until she had started off down the path leading into the trees. Dawn didn't travel through that forested area for long before encountering her first pokemon. A purple monkey pokemon with a hand on its tail dropped down from the trees, startling Dawn. She tried to throw her park ball at it, but the monkey pokemon quickly fled into the trees.

"Somehow I need to sneak up on these pokemon if I'm going to catch them, I think," Dawn said to herself, letting out a sigh.

Scanning the trees, she caught a glimpse of a few more pokemon. They were already retreating deeper into the foilage, though. Continuing down the path, Dawn scanned the trees for any sign of a pokemon that didn't run away from her, even debating whether or not she should try pursuing them into the trees.

Before she could act on such an idea, though, she managed to spot another pokemon. Less than a dozen feet ahead of her, she could see a bug pokemon resting on the branch of a tree. It had a black body and a face that looked like a gold mask. _Okay, I'll try to get that one from back here!_ Dawn thought. _I even have a name for it already!_

Dawn raised her arm back to throw the park ball at the bug pokemon she had spotted, but it had unfortunately spotted her as well. She was still in midthrow when the pokemon took off, flying off down the path before disappearing into the trees. Dawn heard it before she saw it, though, as the pokemon's movement created a sound not unlike an explosion. Branches and leaves were torn from trees as it moved down the path. The whole scenario left Dawn so stunned she had stopped midthrow.

"What. The. Heck. Was. That." Dawn wondered aloud, stunned by the bug pokemon's escape. "That thing's speed... I didn't stand a chance at capturing it! Did it seriously just go from zero to supersonic!" Dawn stared in the direction the pokemon took off in for a moment, stunned, then let out a sigh. "That would have been a good one to have in battle too, I bet..."

Continuing along the path, Dawn could make out the forms of many pokemon hiding in the trees, looking out at her. She was starting to understand just how challenging the Pal Park could be. Even with a pokeball that would catch any of the pokemon she had come across without fail, getting them into the pokeball has proven to be harder than she expected it would be.

Eventually Dawn reached a bend in the path, which would take her toward the mountainous area. She wasn't prepared to go there just yet, though, and chose then to wander off the path and into the trees. The rustling noises she heard all around her as she walked through gave her a pretty good idea of just how many pokemon were hiding from her in there. Occassionally, she'd even catch a glimpse of one such pokemon as it ran from her.

_From what I can tell, there seems to be a lot of bug and grass pokemon in here_, Dawn thought to herself. She stopped walking for a moment and considered her current team. She already had a very good grass-type pokemon, though she didn't know much about her bug-type pokemon considering she had yet to really use it in battle. Elincia, her vespiquen, was definitely a pokemon she'd have to spend some time with before her league challenge.

With that in mind, Dawn decided she had no interest in whatever pokemon were hiding in the forest. As such, she quickly made her way out of the trees and started off down the path toward the mountain area. By this point, there were no pokemon to be seen as she was walking, though she could clearly see the pokemon in the area ahead of her climbing the hills and rocks. A flight of stairs carved into the rocky terrain lead up the hillside.

"Somehow, this area seems much more promising," Dawn said to herself, smiling. She gripped her park ball tightly and started up the stairs. A few pokemon cautiously moved away from her, though they remained in sight and only slowly moved along the side of the hill. Realizing they would be easy picking, Dawn stopped in the middle of the stairs.

_These pokemon probably can't dodge very well, and if I catch one I can just pick up the park ball after it rolls down the hill._ Dawn looked around at her choices and eventually settled her gaze on a white furred pokemon with a black, blade-like horn on one side of its head. The pokemon was precariously perched on the rocky hill and hadn't actually moved since Dawn started her ascent.

Dawn smirked. _That one._ Winding her arm back, Dawn gave her park ball a good, hard toss. It arced through the air, coming down toward the white furred pokemon. After throwing the ball, it occurred to Dawn that the pokemon she was aiming for seemed unusually calm. As the ball drew nearer, she finally noticed the aura the pokemon was giving off.

_That... that pokemon's about to attack!_ she realized all too late. With a twirl of its head, the pokemon unleashed a strong gust of wind carrying many energy blades within it. Surprisingly, not only was the attack not aimed at Dawn, but none of the blades hit the park ball either. However, the wind was strong enough to blow the ball back toward Dawn. It was going to fall short of the stairs, but Dawn was able to reach out and catch it. By then, Dawn could feel another shift in the pokemon's aura. A torrent of air was being drawn around it, readying for another attack.

"I see... so you're just going to do that everytime..." Dawn muttered, narrowing her eyes at the pokemon. "You'd think I'd have realized by now that any pokemon that hasn't run has a reason not to." Shaking her head, Dawn continued on her way up the stairs. If that pokemon could block her park ball, then chances were the others in the area have done the same.

Arriving at the top of the stairs, Dawn found herself on a wide, open plateau. To the south of her, a ledge lead down into a grassy field where some pokemon could be seen grazing. Among them was another pokemon like the one she had faced, which she already knew not to bother with. Perched on that ledge, though, was a large, metal bird that looked like it had sword blade for wings.

_I don't care if I already have a bird pokemon, I'm catching that!_ Dawn thought with a grin and let her park ball fly. To her extreme disappointment, the bird pokemon hopped down from the ledge almost as soon as she did so. The park ball landed where the metal bird had been standing previously. Feeling defeated, Dawn walked over and picked it up.

"Someone must be cheating today," Dawn grumbled under her breath. Looking down at the grassy field below, she could see that metal bird looking back at her now. And it was another pokemon that didn't seem to feel a need to run from her. It was standing its ground with a challenging look in its eyes.

"Well. No point pursuing this one any further," Dawn muttered to herself, then turned around and walked back out into the middle of the plateau. After considering her options for a moment, Dawn decided to head toward the pond she had spotted before. As she neared the pond, she spotted yet another pokemon. This one looked like a giant, red nosed head made entirely of rock. It, like every pokemon Dawn had tried to catch so far, was staring straight at her and making no attempt to escape.

"Gee, wonder what method this one has of preventing me from capturing it?" Dawn wondered aloud, rolling her eyes. "I think I saw a few of those things back at Mt. Coronet, too, but what the heck?" Dawn sighed and drew back her arm, gripping her park ball tightly.

_Is she going to try to catch me? Even though I'm a statue?_ the pokemon wondered. _But she'll be wasting her time. Because I'm a statue. Not a pokemon. A statue. See the way I'm not moving? It's because I'm a statue. You can't capture a statue._

"Let's just see what happens!" Dawn thrust her arm forward and released the park ball, sending it flying through the air toward the rock pokemon.

_Oh, she actually threw it? Does she not think I'm just a statue?_ the pokemon thought. _But I am. I'm just a statue. There's no way she thinks otherwise. I'm good at being a statue. She must be aiming for another pokemon. One that isn't a..._

The pokemon's thoughts were interrupted by the park ball connecting with its forehead. The ball split open and a red beam fired out, pulling the pokemon inside. There was no shaking or rolling as the ball dropped to the ground. Not even a locking noise. It was more like Dawn had recalled the pokemon rather than catching it.

Guess that's just how they work? Dawn thought, blinking. She then sighed and hit her forehead with the palm of her hand. "That figures though... a half-hearted attempt and I actually caught it. Just what was that pokemon thinking anyway?" Rolling her shoulders in a shrug, Dawn walked over to the park ball and picked it up.

"Well, whatever. A free pokemon's a free pokemon and even if I decide I don't want it I can probably trade it away on the GTS," Dawn said, smiling to herself. "But since I've caught my one pokemon, I guess that means I'm done here. And that's fine by me. The pokemon here are pretty annoying." Dawn then turned and started off on her way out of the Pal Park.

* * *

After catching the rock pokemon, Dawn found her way to the other side of the mountain area and to another set of stairs that lead down to the beach. It was a quicker route toward the exit than the route she took to get up the mountain in the first place, with the added benefit of seeing a few pokemon playing in the water. They didn't seem too concerned with Dawn's presence on the beach, though she imagined that would have changed if she went out into the water.

After arriving back inside the main building, she was greeted by the man wearing the hard hat and was asked to hand over her park ball. The man then took the park ball to a machine that already had a pokeball in it, a blue one Dawn recognized as a great ball, and placed the park ball in another slot. After pressing a few buttons on a computer keyboard situated between the two pokeballs, the great ball disappeared in a white light.

"And that's that! Your nosepass has been sent to your storage, since you're already carrying six pokemon," the hard hat wearing man said as he turned around to face her. "Did you enjoy your time in the park?"

"Yes," Dawn replied flatly. It was a straight out lie of course. She then heard a noise from the computer console that the man had been messing with and looked past him to see it printing something out. The man turned around to grab the piece of paper when it was finished.

"Let's see here..." he mumbled, looking it over. "Looks like it took you fairly long to catch that pokemon... that's going to hurt your score..."

Dawn blinked in confusion. "Wait... score?"

"And that pokemon you caught was... well, fairly uncommon at least," the man continued, ignoring Dawn. "A nosepass caught in Hoenn by a trainer named May. I hear she's pretty famous over there, actually, though that has no bearing on your score?"

"Just what the heck are you talking about?" Dawn asked impatiently, glaring at him.

"Every trainer who catches a pokemon here is scored based on their effort," the man explained, then gestured to the observation platform above them. "People come here to watch trainers trying to catch the pokemon here, and all trainers are graded based on their performance, time taken, and the pokemon they captured." He then took a quick look at the paper and added, "Your score is 560."

Dawn blinked. "Okay... is that good or bad?"

"Currently, the record holder for the best capture is Marcus with a score of 9010." The man then chuckled and said, "Well, no one will ever beat THAT show. That kid had a rampaging ursaring coming at him, tearing its way through the park, and I swear he was having the time of his life! He earned some major points for that show!"

"...Can I go now?" Dawn asked in an annoyed tone.

"Well, yeah, guess that's it!" As soon as he had finished speaking, Dawn started off toward the exit. "Don't let that score get to you!" he called out after her. Dawn ignored him and kept going, opening the door and stepping outside.

"I can't believe they didn't mention that BEFORE I went in!" Dawn growled, folding her arms in front of her. "What was I supposed to do? Try to keep up with the pokemon with some kind of insane acrobatic stunts! Geez! Give me a break! I'm a gamer, not a stunt girl!"

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Dawn turned her gaze toward the setting sun. "Looks like it's getting late now. I've done all I want to do today anyway," Dawn said, then reached for a pokeball. "Time to head home. I can start seriously preparing for my league challenge tomorrow."

Dawn then released Captain Falcon from her pokeball, mounted the bird pokemon, and took off into the sky.

* * *

Author's Notes: Another day through for Dawn, another pokemon captured. I'm debating whether she'll keep it, though, or end up trading it off. Not necessarily on the GTS, mind you. Rather, I might have her trade it off to another character.

It's just a statue, afterall.

5 days remain until Dawn's league challenge. Next chapter won't focus on Dawn, though she'll likely make a brief cameo at least. I do intend to cover a bit of plot in the days leading up to her league challenge.

Those scores were just made up on the spot, by the way.


	44. Chapter 43: Plate Collector

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 43**

**Plate Collector**

Early morning, the next day, Dawn was already getting ready to head out. Her trusty aerial steed, Captain Falcon, was out of her pokeball and waiting to take flight. Dawn hopped on the bird pokemon's back, but then stopped. Sensing something behind her, she turned and looked back, then narrowed her eyes.

"You again?" Dawn groaned. "I'm busy today. Go bother someone else."

With that, Dawn motioned forward and Captain Falcon took off into the air.

* * *

South of Sandgem City was a beach, and then nothing but water. Well, almost nothing but water. Several large rocks were piled in two lines heading out to sea, serving as wavebreakers. Between the two ends, a large amount of sand had gathered from the broken waves to form a sandbar spanning the gap between the lines of rocks. In essence, the beach south of Sandgem was completely cut off from the ocean. This made it a fairly popular location for beachgoers in Sinnoh. Of course, Sinnoh was a relatively cold region, thus the beach saw little use except in summer.

However, on this day, the beach was in use. Or at least, that large sandbar that closed off the beach from the ocean was being used. At the oceanside edge of the sandbar, a blue haired woman wearing a brown trenchcoat stood looking into the water. There was a smirk on her lips and she seemed as though she were waiting for something.

"I had a good feeling just now," the woman said to herself. Just then, a beige, serpentine pokemon with long, red eyebrows rose up from the water in front of the woman. The blue scaled tail end of the pokemon's body then rose out of the water behind it, coiled around a blue, stone plate. The serpentine pokemon slithered up onto the sandbar, where the blue haired woman could receive the plate from it.

"Excellent... this would be the 'splash plate' if I'm not mistaken," the woman mumbled, examining the blue stone. Various symbols were etched into it, but not symbols that the woman understood.

_Good work, Galactica_, a voice said in the woman's mind. _With this plate, we have almost reached our goal. It won't be much longer now before I... oh. Seems we have company today. How unusual._

"I thought something seemed off..." the blue haired woman muttered and slowly turned around. "And how long were you watching us for, I wonder?"

"Long enough," the voice of Dusk replied. The purple-haired girl stood before a vortex open to the Torn World. Following closely behind Dusk, a plasma pokemon in the shape of a small fridge emerged. Dusk then waved her hand, dismissing the vortex. "I'd ask you to hand over your plates and explain why you're collecting them, but I have a feeling you're not going to give them up so easily."

"Hmph." Galactica sneered and motioned her serpentine pokemon forward. "You're a smart girl. I'm sure you've already figured out why. So, to answer your question, no. No, I am not going to hand over my hard earned plates."

Dusk shrugged. "Suit yourself," she said. The fridge-forme rotom floated out in front of her, putting itself between Dusk and the other woman's pokemon. "By the way, who are you?"

"You may call me Galactica, the last surviving member of the Grand Hunters!" Galactica replied. "But that will all change. I will enlist the aid of the most powerful legendary pokemon in the world, and then I will use its power to re-obtain a certain legendary pokemon and undo our leader's death!"

"Oh, yes, do go on," Dusk replied, offering a slight grin. "Makes things SO much easier for me to foil your plans when you explain them like this. I take it you weren't in charge of intelligence in the so-called Grand Hunters, were you?"

"Why you...!" Galactica growled, then glanced at her pokemon. "Milotic, attack! Hydro Pump!" Milotic quickly complied, raising its body up to tower over the rotom and then fired a high pressure stream of water down at it.

"Charger! Counter with Blizzard!" Dusk called out. Charger opened its fridge door, unleashing a chilly blast of ice and snow into the oncoming water. When the two attacks collided the stream of water was initially frozen, but the frozen water quickly shattered and more water pushed through until it eventually reached Charger. The force of the water slammed Charger into the sand, but the attack was short lived due to being slowed down by Charger's Blizzard.

"That was one heck of a Hydro Pump. Can't hold back against this one," Dusk muttered to herself. "Charger, fire back with Discharge!" Charger quickly rose up off the sand and unleashed an incredible discharge of electricity from its body. Some of the electricity was wasted, being fired off to the sides, but much of it fell upon Milotic like a curatin. The serpentine water pokemon groaned in pain and nearly doubled over, but was able to withstand the attack.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Dusk grimaced. This opponent was going to be harder than she thought.

"I'm afraid it's no joke, girl," Galactica said to her, grinning. "These pokemon I'm using belonged to one of the mightest pokemon trainers there ever was! Why, these pokemon are far more powerful than those of any champion!"

"What?" Dusk laughed. "Don't kid yourself, lady! Your pokemon is tough, but Cynthia would still mop the floor with it!" she said, then smirked. "Of course, I can already see why that might be the case. They're not your pokemon, right? Then they probably won't give it their best for you. And if they haven't been getting proper exercise... well..." Dusk shrugged. "No matter how powerful they are, they're going to get a bit rusty."

Galactica narrowed her eyes at Dusk. "Think so? Then let's up the ante, shall we?" She smirked and then held up the splash plate. "Oh, Milotic? Catch!" Galactica tossed the plate off to Milotic and it curled its tail to catch the plate. "Perhaps you don't know this, but this plate contains the pure essence of water-type pokemon. Because of that, my Milotic is going to get a bit of a boost. Milotic, show her this with another Hydro Pump!"

"Damn it!" Dusk growled. "Charger, evade! Double Team!" Charger spun and split off into four duplicate images, lined up side by side. Milotic aimed its Hydro Pump attack at the spot where Charger had been initially, only for the water to pass through that particular rotom and hit the sand, sending mud flying. The image struck winked out of existance, leaving a hole in the line with two rotoms on either side.

"Now use Will-o-Wisp!" Dusk called out next. All but the rotom on the far right of Dusk vanished as it went on the attack. Several small, purple flames formed around Charger. It then fired the flames at Milotic, aiming for its upper body. Milotic tilited its body to the side to avoid the flames, though a quick flick of the wrist from Dusk turned a near miss into a hit as the flames passed through a vortex and came at Milotic again from the side. Milotic groaned, feeling a painful burn mark forming on the side of its body.

"I can see you're going to be quite the annoying opponent," Galactica said to Dusk. "Regardless, a burn is of no consequence to Milotic. In fact," Galactica grinned and gestured toward Milotic. The scales on its body seemed to be sparkling all of a sudden. "You've activated Milotic's special ability, Marvel Scale, increasing its defense against physical attacks."

"Like I was really going to use physical attacks with a rotom," Dusk replied. At this point, though, she had little intention of going back on the offensive unless she was sure she'd be knocking Milotic out. Until then, she'd rely on the burn to wear Milotic down.

"Milotic, use Hydro Pump again!" Milotic reared back again and opened its mouth, then unleashed another torrent of water at Charger. After having just attacked, Charger was left with little time to evade and took the high pressure stream of water almost completely head-on. It was pushed down into the sand and pinned there under the stream of water, the water digging out a hole in the sand and sending mud flying everywhere.

"Charger, go on the defensive with Double Team!" Charger was unable to comply at first, as it was still pinned down by Milotic's Hydro Pump. Even after the attack had let up, Charger was slow to react. Enduring the full power of the attack had drained a lot of Charger's strength. Eventually, though, it floated up out of the hole that Milotic had dug out. Charger's form then briefly shimmered, splitting off into four duplicate copies of itself.

"I see what you're doing. Trying to wear us down." Galactica smirked. "Well, that won't work I'm afraid! Milotic, show her! Aqua Ring!" Milotic closed its eyes and focused. Water began to swirl around it, then began to condense into three rings that circled around Milotic and slowly restored its strength. It was enough to counteract the damage being inflicted by its burn.

"Damn it!" Dusk growled. "Charger, back on the attack! Discharge!" Charger built up electricity within its body and then quickly discharged it all at once, sending it in a wave toward Milotic. A veritable wall of electricity washed over the water pokemon. Though the attack was immense, the spread effect left it slightly weaker than the more direct Thunderbolt attack. Milotic cried out in pain as the electricity washed over it. It nearly fell over as the static discharging through its body caused its muscles to freeze up, inducing paralysis.

_Paralysis too? How annoying_, Galactica thought. "Milotic, finish this with Water Pulse!"

Of course, Dusk had noticed the paralysis as well and was quick to call out another attack. "Charger, once more! Discharge!"

Simultaneously, the two pokemon began preparing their final attacks. Milotic struggled to shake off the paralysis and fire a watery pulse at Charger that took the form of three rings. Charger, meanwhile, stored electricity in its body until it had enough to attack and then discharged it all at once in a spread. The two attacks collided, but neither had any noticeable effect on the other. A wave of electricity washed over Milotic again, and three rings of water struck Charger one after another. Both pokemon dropped after being hit.

_One for one... I'll have to make up for lost ground_, Dusk thought. Extending a hand, she opened a vortex below Charger. A pair of ghostly hands emerged and pulled the ghost pokemon inside. A flick of the wrist and the vortex closed, then another one opened and Freezer came out.

_She could be a threat_, Galactica thought, narrowing her eyes at Dusk as she recalled Milotic. _This battle could still go either way..._

_Then we can't take that risk_, a voice said to her. _If she might be a problem for us, then we must eliminate her here._

"Like I don't already know that," Galactica muttered, taking another pokeball in her hand. "Sceptile!" The pokeball opened and a green, lizard-like pokemon emerged onto the sand. The Sceptile's skin tone was a darker green than the last one of its species she had seen, Dusk noted. Narrowing its eyes at Dusk, it readied its razor sharp forearm leaves and glanced back toward Galactica.

"Sceptile, start off with Leaf Blade!" Galactica commanded, nodding to Sceptile in turn. Sceptile nodded and then took off in a mad dash across the sand, only slightly slowed by the uneven surface.

_That pokemon... am I imagining it, or is it locked on to me instead of my pokemon?_ Dusk thought. She narrowed her eyes at Sceptile and followed its movements. No matter what way she looked at it, it was definitely coming toward her. A quick flick of her wrist solved that problem, though. A vortex suddenly opened in Sceptile's path and the grass lizard charged straight through it, disappearing as the vortex closed behind it.

"What!" Galactica gasped in shock.

"Sorry, but you won't get rid of me that easily," Dusk said to her. After waiting a moment, Dusk made another gesture with her hand and a vortex opened near Galactica. This one unceremoniously dropped a beat-up looking Sceptile in front of her. It was rather clearly unconscious and looked as though it had taken hits from a variety of attacks from punches, to claws, to fire.

"It would be all too easy for me to kill you where you stand, you know," Dusk said to Galactica. "However, I'd prefer to avoid any unnecessary bloodshed. So let's keep this civil."

_Those portals of her's seem like they'll prove to be quite a nuisance_, Galactica thought bitterly. She quickly recalled Sceptile, whom barely got a chance to battle, and quickly took another pokeball in her hand. She quietly released her next pokemon, sending out a yellow, spikey-furred pokemon known as Jolteon. _I don't suppose there's anything you can do about that, is there, mister guiding spirit?_

_ I am afraid there isn't_, the voice replied. You will have to deal with it in your own way. _If nothing else, she doesn't seem entirely adept at combining her vortexes with pokemon combat._

"That isn't very reassuring," Galactica grumbled. "Jolteon, attack with Shadow Ball!" Jolteon growled and immediately began forming the ball of shadowstuff before it. Then, making an upward gesture with its head, it sent the ball flying toward Freezer.

"Freezer, use Blizzard!" Dusk called out. Freezer spread out her arms and sent a blast of ice and snow at Jolteon. The Shadow Ball launched by Jolteon pierced through the Blizzard with little resistance, though, and slammed into Freezer. Freezer cried out as she was struck, the impact throwing her back. She crumpled to the ground, seemingly knocked out in one hit, but then slowly floated back up. Its face was contorted in pain from the effort it took to do so, though.

_That one hurt_, Dusk thought. _Freezer is definitely outmatched here, but we need to get in at least one more hit..._

"Seems we still have quite the power advantage over you afterall," Galactica said with a smirk. "Jolteon, finish it with Thunderbolt!"

"We're not finished yet!" Dusk shot back. "Freezer, one more attack! Ice Shard!"

Freezer gave a quick wave of her hand, instantly forming and firing several small shards of ice. Galactica's Jolteon just barely managed to attack before they hit, launching a bolt of electricity toward Freezer. Jolteon flinched as the small shards of ice pelted its body and shattered and let out a low growl. The attack didn't have much of an effect, but enough that Dusk noticed it starting to weaken from the way its knees nearly buckled. Freezer, however, instantly dropped when the bolt of electricity shot through it.

_That's about how I expected this bout to end_, Dusk thought, giving a wave of her hand. A vortex opened near Freezer and a pair of ghostly hands pulled her inside. With another motion, the vortex closed, and another one opened. From this one her banette, Seeker, emerged.

"Seeker, let's finish what Freezer started! Attack Jolteon with Shadow Sneak!" Seeker slashed at the air in Jolteon's direction, extending a shadow across the ground toward it. A pitch black, clawed hand then reached out from that shadow and slashed across the underside of Jolteon's body. The electric pokemon let out a cry and then fell over onto its side.

"Hmph. Another loss," Galactica mused as she recalled Jolteon. A quick switch of pokeballs and she sent out her next pokemon. The pokemon that emerged looked like two purple balloons fused together, spouting toxic smog from pores on its body.

_You don't seem too concerned about this_, Galactica's "guiding spirit" noted.

_That's because I've noticed something about her pokemon_, Galactica thought in response, grinning slightly. _This girl is undoubtedly someone who deals solely in ghost-type pokemon. The last two of Drake's pokemon under my command should be able to deal with her quite handily._

"Weezing, use Toxic!" Weezing opened both of its mouths and spat a toxic substance at the ghostly doll pokemon. Seeker moved to the side to avoid it, but moved in the wrong direction and only avoided one of the blobs. The remaining blob, spat by the smaller of the two heads, was still strong enough to badly poison Seeker.

"Seeker, Will-o-Wisp!" Dusk called out. She had intended to use Curse, but that seemed like an even worse idea than usual with Seeker poisoned. Purple flames suddenly formed around Seeker in a circle. Then, extending its hands toward Weezing, Seeker launched the flames at it. The purple flames zigzagged through the air, following in a line, until each of them struck Weezing one after the other. No damage was done, but a nasty burn was left on the large head.

"You will find that burn won't slow Weezing down at all," Galactica said to Dusk. "Weezing, fire back with Sludge Bomb." Both of Weezing's heads opened their mouths and spat out a ball of sludge. The two balls remained the same distance apart as they were lobbed through the air and splashed down onto Seeker, sending poisonous sludge flying everywhere and knocking Seeker into the sand. Though ghost pokemon were normally resistant to poison, it was obviously having a strong effect on Seeker. The ghost pokemon quickly flew back up and started shaking it off.

_With that poison already in effect, I doubt Seeker could endure even one more hit like that_, Dusk noted grimly. "Seeker, make this next one count! Shadow Claw!" Seeker raised one hand and formed a set of claws from shadowstuff on the tips of its fingers. It then dashed across the sandbar and slashed Weezing across the front of the larger head, striking the burn mark from before. Weezing winced and hissed in pain.

"An attack like that won't do you any good against Weezing's defenses, kid!" Galactica sneered. "Now, Weezing, finish it with another Sludge Bomb!"

"Damn it!" Dusk growled. "Seeker, back up and use Shadow Ball!"

Seeker began quickly floating back and cupped its hands, forming a ball of shadowstuff between them. Weezing opened its mouths and spat out two more balls of sludge, firing in an arc to account for Seeker's attempt to evade. Seeker just barely managed to fire its Shadow Ball in time, throwing it toward Weezing almost at the same time that the balls of sludge were hitting it in the face. Seeker dropped down onto the sand and stayed there, covered from top to bottom in sludge. Weezing, after taking the Shadow Ball to the other face, nearly hit the sand as well, but managed to stop itself and remained hovering a foot in the air. It was looking pretty weak, but still able to fight.

Without missing a beat, Dusk quickly opened a vortex so those shadowy hands could pull Seeker inside. She closed that vortex and opened another one so a witch-like, purple ghost pokemon could come out. "Caster, use Shadow Ball!" Dusk quickly commanded once the mismagius had emerged. Letting out a cry that sounded like mad cackling, it formed a ball of shadowstuff before it and then launched it at Weezing. This time, as the Shadow Ball hit it in the face, it flipped over and hit the sand upside down.

"Down to two pokemon..." Galactica smirked and took out a pokeball, recalling Weezing with it. "Wish I could say I was worried, but I've been saving the best for last." Galactica returned the pokeball to her belt inside her cloak, then took another one and thrust it out. "Let's start with this one!" she said, then released a pink, egg-shaped pokemon that looked as if it were wearing a white, frilly skirt. Everyone who had ever been in a pokemon center would recognize the pokemon as a blissey.

"Heh. That one is problematic..." Dusk said, then held out her hand to open a vortex near Caster. Caster took the hint and quickly floated into it. "For Caster, that is. But for this one..." The first vortex closed and another one opened. From this one, a powerful-looking pokemon known as dusknoir emerged. "Not so much."

"Well we'll see about that, won't we?" Galactica said with a smirk. "Blissey, Toxic!" Blissey put her hands to her mouth and spat out a blob of powerful venom at the dusknoir. Reaper flinched as the poison landed on it, seeping into its body and poisoning it.

"You left yourself open! Reaper, now! Focus Punch!" Dusk called out. Reaper quickly complied, raising a fist back and charging toward Blissey. Its fist began to glow as it focused its power into it. Finally closing the distance, Reaper slammed its fist into Blissey's stomach and unleashed that power. The force of the punch sent Blissey flying back across the sandbar, nearly throwing her into the water. Instead, she landed at the edge of the sandbar and quickly rolled back onto her feet. She nearly fell over again once she was standing up, though. Reaper's Focus Punch took a lot out of her.

_If Blissey tried healing with Softboiled now, that'd just leave her open to another Focus Punch_, Galactica thought, eying Blissey while it quickly moved past. Though Galactica wasn't her real trainer, Blissey still knew better than to leave her unprotected. _Well, my last pokemon will quickly finish this, so let's just deal some damage to this one!_

"Blissey, attack her pokemon with Ice Beam!" Galactica commanded. Blissey put her hands together and fired what looked like two blue sparks of electricity from each. The sparks combined and a beam fired out from between her hands, striking Reaper in the chest. Ice briefly formed over the front of Reaper's body and then shattered. Reaper staggered back slightly from the pain.

"You'll regret doing even that much!" Dusk called back. "Reaper, Payback!" Surging with a dark aura, Reaper shook off the blow and charged toward Blissey and slammed into her shoulder first. Blissey cried out as she was struck and was knocked onto her back in the sand, where she lay unconscious.

"Hmm... you took that one down surprisingly easy," Galactica said as she recalled Blissey. A smirk crossed her lips as she took another pokeball in her hand. "I wonder if you'll manage the same against this one?" The ball opened up and a red beam fired out, then materialized into a pokemon. Dusk caught only a brief glance of the pokemon before a sandstorm suddenly blew across the sandbar. She saw a pokemon with a gray, rock-skinned body.

_That pokemon... what was it?_ Dusk wondered. _I can only think of one pokemon that could cause sandstorms, but I could handle a hippowdon easily..._

"Tyranitar! Crunch!" Galactica commanded from behind the wall of swirling sand, going on the attack while Dusk was still thinking. She could barely see into the sandstorm. Which was why she heard, rather than saw, the attack. The sound of a pair of powerful jaws snapping down on her pokemon's shoulders briefly filled the air, louder even than the wind that was blowing the sand around. Shaking its head, Tyranitar jostled Reaper about before tossing it out of range of the sandstorm. It landed, unconscious, at Dusk's feet.

_Whatever that pokemon is, there's no doubting its power if it can do that_, Dusk thought, grimacing. She opened a vortex to return Reaper to the Torn World, then opened another near the edge of the sandstorm so Caster could return to the battlefield. _Now, that pokemon definitely looked like it had a rock body so..._

"Caster, Magical Leaf!" Dusk called out. Caster quickly spun around and several sharp leaves appeared floating in the air around it. As Caster's spinning came to a stop, the leaves fired out into the sandstorm. The leaves apparently hit their mark, though, as evident from the pained growl that came from within.

"Tyranitar, take this one out with another Crunch attack!" Galactica's voice called out. Caster suddenly disappeared into the swirling sand as Tyranitar charged toward it. Another loud CRUNCH was heard as it bit down on Caster. The ghost pokemon was then hurled out of the sandstorm, landing at Dusk's feet again.

_Damn! That only leaves me with that one now..._ Dusk thought. She opened a vortex so Caster's unconscious body could be pulled to safety and then considered whether or not she wanted to call out her final pokemon or simply retreat.

_This is the first time I managed to catch her, I have to put all my effort into this!_ Dusk thought, then opened another vortex. From this, a rock bearing strange symbols and a crack on it dropped down into the sand. An eerie sound filled the air as a purple mist started seeping out from the crack. The mist swirled over the rock and green orbs of light appeared within. Before long, a green faced formed within the mist and let out a deep, menacing laugh.

"Our target is in there!" Dusk said to the pokemon, pointing toward a shadowy figure approaching them from within the sandstorm. "Now! Attack it with Shadow Ball!" The pokemon let out another laugh and began forming a ball of shadowstuff, then hurled it into the sandstorm. The figure within growled as the Shadow Ball struck it in the stomach, but didn't seem to be slowed down in the least.

"Fool! Tyranitar is a dark-type pokemon!" Galactica called out to her. "Observe! Tyranitar, Dark Pulse!" The pokemon within the sandstorm opened its mouth and fired a swirling ray of black and purple and black energy, striking the spiritomb with a blast as wide as its face. The spiritomb shook it off as if it were nothing. However...

"AHHHHHHH!" Dusk shrieked and fell to her knees as an overwhelming pain flooded her body. "D-damn it..." she grumbled weakly, clutching at the sand. "No good... I just can't..." Summoning her strength, Dusk quickly opened a vortex near her spiritomb. It got the hint in a hurry and jumped inside. Dusk then opened another vortex closer to her and pulled herself into it.

"And just what was that all about?" Galactica wondered aloud.

_How interesting. Seems the girl has formed a forbidden pact with her spiritomb_, the voice of her guiding spirit said to her. _Her spiritomb would be incredibly strong as a result, but she would feel incredible pain anytime it is struck in battle. To call it a double-edged sword would be a joke. It is more akin to a legendary blade with a handle of poisonous barbs._

"Then I guess that means we've won," Galactica said with a smirk, then took a pokeball in her hand and recalled Tyranitar. "Though we had an unexpected visitor, the splash plate is now our's."

_Yes_, the voice replied. _Only a few more plates... and then we move to the final phase. The world shall be our's._

"Hmph. That's easy for you to say," Galactica grumbled as she made her way across the sandbar. Stopping near the edge, she peered out across the water, toward Sandgem. She then crouched down and ran her fingers through the water and shivered when she felt its coldness.

"As for me... seems I'm swimming back to Sandgem, now."

* * *

Author's Notes: Please don't lean against that wall, Dawn. It might break...

Anyway, jokes aside, surprise Dusk vs. Galactica chapter! Though she's using Drake's pokemon, they've gotten a bit weaker over the years. Drake probably wouldn't be too impressed if he was still alive to see how they were being treated. Dusk's sixth ghost pokemon was also finally revealed. Doubt anyone was surprised, but I wonder if anyone was surprised by her reason for not using it?

On another note, I apparently called Dusk's rotom Shocker in the Dawn vs. Dusk chapter, but called it Charger in its initial appearance. Going to stick with Charger, so I guess I should go back and edit out 'Shocker'...

That was Dusk that appeared to bother Dawn, by the way. Still 5 days remaining.


	45. Chapter 44: Nightmare Mode

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 44**

**Nightmare Mode**

"I can't believe no one was at the lab..." Dawn muttered and let out an exasperated sigh. "I could really use some help with my training too. Like having Melany and Rina as sparring partners..."

After setting off from her house the next day - escaping what appeared to be an attempt by Dusk to cause problems for her again - Dawn first set down in Sandgem, hoping to find one of the other girls still there. She even would have settled for Lucas or Barry. To her dismay, though, none of the other trainers were there. They had all set off already. However, she had heard that Melany and Rina had gone to Canalave to check out the library, and so Dawn had decided to make that her next destination.

"Wait a minute... why does it feel like I've done this already?" Dawn wondered, feeling an eerie sense of deja vu as Captain Falcon crossed the straight between Jubilife and Canalave. After thinking about it for a moment, Dawn shrugged it off. "I must be thinking about the last time we were here. Though it is kinda weird that it feels like I've specifically approached the city like this before."

Dawn patted her pokemon on the back. "What do you think, Captain Falcon?" she asked her. Strangely, Captain Falcon remained silent. She didn't even seem to acknowledge Dawn's question. "Ah... guess you're not much for conversation?" Dawn shrugged. "Oh well. We should be seeing the city any minute..." Dawn looked straight ahead, to where she expected to see Canalave. "...now?"

At first, Dawn didn't know what to make of the scene before her. It was almost too surreal. Plumes of smoke rose from the city ahead of her, and not a single building remained intact. Some of the buildings were still burning, as was the bridge that connected the two sides of the city. The Canalave Library that was to be her destination was cut clean in half, with the front half of the building lying in rubble. And the pokemon center, a building Dawn had come to rely on so much, was completely demolished and looked as if something had torn clean through the center of the building.

"This... this can't be real..." Dawn uttered in shock. As Captain Falcon drew closer to the city, Dawn felt ever fibre in her body telling her to run away. There wasn't anything she could do in Canalave now, and there was the distinct risk that whatever had done this was still around.

"C-Captain Falcon, turn around! We're going back to Jubilife!" Dawn said to her pokemon. There was no response, and Captain Falcon maintained her course. "Captain Falcon? I said turn around!" Again no response. They were almost over the ruins of the city. Dawn started to pull frantically on Captain Falcon. "Turn around! TURN AROUND!"

Captain Falcon ignored Dawn's pleas and continued straight ahead toward the ruins of Canalave, flying over with seemingly no intention of landing. And she didn't. Instead, she suddenly turned upside down, dropping Dawn from her back. And from quite the height as well. Dawn screamed as she plummeted down toward the ground. When she hit the ground she felt an incredible pain run through her body. And then... nothing.

* * *

_ ...Hey? What's going on here? Why is everyone...?_

_ That black thing on the bridge... I bet that's the culprit. I'll just go and..._

_ Huh? All of a sudden... I feel kinda..._

* * *

"Ow..." Dawn groaned as she slowly came to. She felt like she had fallen off the top of a house. Appropriate, since that was pretty much what had happened. As she slowly sat up, though, she was surprised to find herself practically uninjured. Aside from her knees being a bit scraped.

That's right... back then, you could get by with only scraped knees... she thought, then quickly shook her head. "Wait, what? Ugh..." Dawn pressed her hand against her forehead. Her head was throbbing in pain. "What was that all of a sudden? No... nevermind that..." Dawn cast an angry glare toward the sky, managing to catch a glimpse of Captain Falcon's retreating form. "GET BACK HERE YOU STUPID BIRD!" she yelled, shaking her fist. Again, completely ignored.

"Geez... did I do something to piss her off I wonder?" she said, then let out a sigh. "Guess I'm stuck here then..." Dawn shuddered at the thought. "Whatever did this might still be..."

Just then, Dawn heard the sound of footsteps. Heavy footsteps. Heavy, metallic footsteps. And they were coming her way. Dawn quickly stood up and turned around. Behind her were the remains of the pokemart, the top half of the building cleanly blown off. Through the jagged remains of the wall she could make out the top of some sort of machine coming around the building. Dawn started to slowly back up, ready to run but her curiosity keeping her from immediately doing so.

That was, of course, until she saw it. To anyone else, the machine that came into view from around the other side of the ruined pokemart would just be an ordinary robot. Stood several yards tall, something of a chickhen walker in appearance with a long tube running along either side of the body to cylindrical pods at the back. A cannon was mounted under the front, and a single eye scanned its surroundings before locking on Dawn. To anyone else, it would have just been a war mech. To Dawn, it was War Mech.

"AHHHH!" Dawn screamed and took off running toward the northern end of the city. Just in time, too, as the spot where she had been standing was soon engulfed in a small nuclear explosion. The machine quickly realized it had missed and gave chase.

_What the heck is THAT thing doing here!_ Dawn thought as she raced through the ruined streets. It was no longer any mystery as to what had caused the destruction of Canalave. If you weren't prepared, War Mech would easily wipe out your entire party. Reaching the remains of the pokemon center, Dawn ran around to the rear of the building and listened for the sounds of the approaching mech. She was hoping she'd be able to evade it through the ruins, courtesy of a convenient hole in the wall where she was.

_Geez... last time I faced that thing I was looking for it AND I could at least depend on it waiting its turn!_ Dawn thought, grimacing. _I want to approach this thinking like I should just hit it with my hardest spells and attacks while keeping my hit points high so Nuclear doesn't wipe my party, but that's not going to work. No, here I need to think like I'm dealing with an actual mecha..._

Hearing the mecha in question moving along the side of the building, Dawn quickly moved into the hole. War Mech couldn't follow her inside, so she quickly moved in and pressed herself up against the wall. She could hear War Mech pass by behind her, its heavy metallic footsteps moving along the back, then stopping. Dawn didn't dare even breathe.

Soon enough, she could hear it move again, walking toward the other side of the building and circling around. Dawn quietly moved through the ruined pokemon center, eventually making her way to the main area. There, the crouched down behind the front desk. Just in time, too, as she heard the sound of a wall being broken down shortly after, and those heavy footsteps were coming toward her now.

_Please don't look back here! Please don't look back here!_ Dawn silently pleaded. Realizing the real danger at this point, she added, _Please don't walk through here and step on me!_

The footsteps came to a stop around the same time that a shadow was cast over her. Looking up, she could see the underside of War Mech's body. Dawn held back the urge to scream. It was like hiding from a monster in a horror film, only instead of some kind of nightmarish creature, it was a nuclear death machine. War Mech's body turned left, then right. It was definitely looking for her, but couldn't see her directly below it. Then, it withdrew, and Dawn could hear its footsteps moving away. The footsteps grew quieter and quieter until she couldn't hear them at all.

Dawn let out a sigh of relief. "Seriously, what's that thing doing in Canalave?" Dawn wondered aloud, keeping her voice under a whisper. "Something like that... I wonder if I could use my pokemon against it somehow?" Dawn reached down to grab for a pokeball and... felt empty air. The realization hit her slowly. Ever since she had first left home, no matter what the situation she could always count on her pokemon.

Now, all of a sudden, those pokemon weren't there. Captain Falcon had abandoned her, and her belt of pokeballs was mysteriously on the missing. Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, she heard those footsteps approaching her position again.

_Great! No pokemon! NOW what am I supposed to do!_ Dawn wondered, gritting her teeth. The footsteps were coming closer and closer... and then suddenly stopped. _Now what's it... _Dawn's eyes widened, realizing exactly what War Mech was about to do. She got up and bolted, getting away just in time as the front of the pokemon center was suddenly vaporized. With the explosion as cover, though, she managed to make it outside and behind the pokemon center without War Mech seeing her.

_So now it's just going to blast out all my hiding places, is it!_ Dawn thought frantically. It then occurred to her that she shouldn't stick around. Running away from the pokemon center, and toward the water, she dove into the harbour. Behind her, she could hear another explosion as War Mech took out the remaining section of the pokemon center.

_It probably won't look for me in the water_, Dawn thought as she resurfaced. Just to make sure, though, she swam back toward the side she had jumped in from and pressed her back up against the wall of the harbour. To her relief, it sounded like it was moving away from her rather than toward her. It wasn't going to check the water.

_I'm safe here for now, but it'd be bad to stay in the water_, she thought. _Worst case scenario, who knows what kind of pokemon are lurking here! And in the best case scenario, I'm still wet, and this water is still filled with the waste and stuff from all the ships that come through._

Considering her options, Dawn cast a glance toward the still-flaming wooden bridge that connected the two sides of the city. It seemed strange for it to still be burning, but it certainly didn't look like it was useable. A flaming piece of wood falling from the bottom of the bridge confirmed it. Nothing was going to be able to cross that, and she couldn't think of any other way for War Mech to get to the other side. The southern end of the city ended at the edge of a forest, afterall. The trees were as impassable as a waist-high fence.

_If I swim to the other side, I should definitely be safe_, Dawn thought. _And the gym and library are over there, too! Maybe, just maybe, I can find something or someone there that will be able to help me..._

As Dawn turned to look toward the western side of the city, she caught something out of the corner of her eye and looked back toward the bridge. She briefly caught the sight of a dark spectre and a young girl on the bridge, before both vanished from sight. _What... what was that just now?_ Dawn wondered, gulping nervously. _G-ghosts? Is Canalave already becoming a ghost town!_

Shaking her head, Dawn pushed such thoughts aside and assumed, or at least hoped, it was just a trick of the flames. She had other concerns at the moment afterall. Concerns that could fry her with a nuclear blast. Pushing off from the edge, she quickly swam across the narrow channel until she reached a small dock on the other side. She pulled herself up out of the water and onto that dock, then looked back toward the other side.

"Don't see War Mech anywhere... but that should mean it can't see me either at least," Dawn said, then made her way down the short dock and then up onto the waterfront. Taking a quick look around, she spotted the gym nearby and quickly headed in that direction.

To say the gym was in pretty bad shape would have been an understatement. There was easily less left of the gym than any other building Dawn had seen, save for the now completely demolished pokemon center. Not much was even left standing. The wall facing Dawn was gone, leaving only a pile of rubble. The back of the building was gone, as was most of the front. Only the front wall and the wall opposite Dawn remained, though the front wall was missing a large section as if it were cut on an angle. The word 'gym' over the door had the 'm' cut off.

Despite the destruction, Dawn decided to check it out anyway. Despite the missing walls, Dawn went through the front door. Unsurprisingly, where the inside of the gym was supposed to be was nothing but rubble from the collapsed walls. The cracked and broken form of the gym's battle area could only be seen in a few small areas.

"The gym is really destroyed... I wonder if Byron tried fighting War Mech, maybe?" Dawn thought, grimacing as the thought struck her. Not only did it mean that Byron was now probably dead, killed by that rampaging machine, Melany and Rina were likely dead as well. It also meant none of them were strong enough to stop it, thus Dawn likely wouldn't have been able to herself.

"I wonder if this means my league challenge is going to be called off..." Dawn mumbled, casting a sorrowful glance toward the opposite side of the gym. In a way, she knew Byron more than any of the other gym leaders. It was hard for her to believe he might be gone now. But for him to be killed by, of all things, War Mech? It was almost too hard to believe.

That was, of course, until an explosion engulfed the eastern side of the gym, which was already nothing but rubble. The explosion seemed to come out of nowhere and caught Dawn completely off guard, though the explosion wasn't the issue she had to deal with. It was the debris that was blasted in her direction. One piece of debris smacked her in the head and knocked her off her feet as she turned to see what had happened, while more debris landed on top of her lower body and pinned her to the ground.

"What was..." Dawn began to say in shock, recovering from the blow to the head surprisingly quickly. It didn't occur to her that she barely even felt it. She did feel the rubble piled up on her legs now. She couldn't move them. "H-hey! I'm stuck!" she cried out, as if expecting someone to come and help her. She tried pulling them free, but it was no good. To make matters worse, she then heard something that caused her to freeze in fear.

Footsteps. Heavy, metallic footsteps, slowly growing closer. She slowly raised her head to look toward the sound, knowing fully what it was but not wanting to confirm it. She was sure she had escaped it. But there it was. War Mech, already inside the remains of the gym. In only a few more steps, it had closed the distance. It wasn't using its gun this time. Instead, it raised its foot over Dawn. She let out a scream as it came crashing down toward her.

_"Hey. Dawn. Wake up."_

* * *

Earlier in Canalave City, at the same time Dawn was seemingly being chased around the city ruins by a video game enemy, the scene was entirely different in the real city. The buildings were all intact, but the citizens were all out like a light. Nothing seemed to be active, with the sole exception of a black figure floating in the center of the harbour bridge. The creature had a ghostly, black body, flowing white hair, cyan eyes, and a red collar that looked like a mouth.

This creature was the nightmare pokemon, Darkrai. From the bridge, it looked around at the city, surveying its handiwork. If it had a real mouth, it likely would have been grinning. Its satisfaction was still showing in its eyes, however.

"You know, playing the role of the hero really doesn't suit me," a girl's voice said. Darkrai spun around and spotted a young girl in a purple cloak stepping out of a vortex to the Torn World. "And to think... this makes twice in one day, too."

Perceiving her to be a threat, Darkrai quickly formed a dark orb in its hand and flung it at Dusk. The orb struck her and surrounded her in a sphere of darkness. It was Darkrai's signature technique, Dark Void, which was a highly reliable sleep inducing technique. However, when the darkness faded, Darkrai was surprised to see Dusk still awake and standing.

"Sorry, but I came prepared," Dusk said. Reaching into her cloak, she produced a green and yellow feather in the shape of a crescent moon. A simple gold keychain was attached to the top. "Found this nifty little thing in a souvenir shop, but it's the real deal. A Lunar Wing, likely dropped by Cresselia. So long as I have this, your power can't affect me."

Not willing to back down just because of a minor setback, Darkrai held out a hand and focused its power on Dusk. Darkrai's eyes seemingly turned into black and white swirls as it sent out hypnotic energy waves at Dusk. If Dark Void wouldn't work, it would use Hypnosis instead. Dusk was prepared for this too, though, and simply opened a vortex in front of herself to block the waves.

"It's too bad my pokemon are already quite beat up after that last battle," Dusk said casually. "On top of that, while I did recently come into possession of five new pokemon, they won't listen to me yet. So I've pretty much come here with the intention of fighting you myself."

Hearing Dusk's declaration, Darkrai suddenly fell into a fit of laughter. Dusk just smirked at it. "Laugh it off while you can, but the only thing keeping me from ending this in one move is my own desire to toy with you a bit," Dusk said, earning a glare from Darkrai. "If you think I'm bluffing, then why not take your best shot?" Dusk suggested.

Darkrai was all too eager to comply with Dusk's suggestion. Thrusting a hand toward Dusk, Darkrai launched a swirling ray of purple and black energies at her. It then flinched as that same attack suddenly hit it from behind. Dusk had opened a vortex to intercept the attack, then open a second vortex behind Darkrai so it would be hit by its own technique. This earned little more than a glare from the dark-type pokemon.

"See? I'm not as defenseless as you might think, Darkrai," Dusk said, a smirk forming on her lips. "It's too bad Dawn is already preoccupied. I'm sure she would love to see this match. It'll be almost like something out of a game."

Dusk's commentary only served to enrage Darkrai. The nightmare pokemon immediately started hurling Dark Pulse after Dark Pulse at the girl, firing away with both hands. To deal with Darkrai's outburst, Dusk simply opened a larger vortex in front of her to block all of the shots until Darkrai had finally tired itself. Then, while Darkrai was exhausted, another vortex opened above it. Several swirling pulses of dark energy fired straight down on top of it, weakened as if they had traversed a great distance before hitting it though still managing to inflict some damage on Darkrai.

"Are you quite done?" Dusk asked it. Darkrai's only response was to cast an angry glare at her. "My turn then~!" she said in a singsong tone. Dusk opened a small vortex near her foot and briefly closed the vortex over Darkrai only to immediately open another. She kicked her foot into the small vortex near her, causing a large, metal crate to suddenly fall out of the vortex over Darkrai and crash down onto its head. Darkrai's eyes bulged from the impact and the pokemon slumped over onto the bridge.

"Don't tell me you're done with just that," Dusk said to the pokemon. Darkrai was quick to float back up at that. She saw its body tense and opened another vortex in front of her just as Darkrai shot forward, using Quick Attack to strike with a sudden burst of speed. Instead of hitting Dusk, though, it shot straight into the vortex and came out through the one that had been hovering over it. Unable to stop itself, Darkrai smashed face first into the bridge, smashing through the wooden structure and falling into the water below.

"Really now, you should know normal-type techniques don't work on a ghost like me," Dusk said, smiling to herself. She then quickly formed another vortex on the ground in front of her and stepped into it and closed it behind her just as Darkrai suddenly burst through the bridge where Dusk had been standing, sending pieces of wood flying everywhere. Darkrai looked around in confusion, then saw Dusk emerge from another vortex on the other side of the bridge.

"Right, like I didn't see that coming," Dusk said, turning to face Darkrai. "I wonder what you'll try next? Considering your options, right?" Dusk asked it. Darkrai gave no response and instead continued to glare at Dusk. "Guess you are. Hmm..." Focusing for a moment, Dusk gave a flick of her finger, opening a very small vortex near her face.

"Oh! Perfect timing!" she said, a grin spreading across her face as she looked at Darkrai again. "Hey, Darkrai? I'm wondering, how much do you know about the scientific achievements of mankind? Have you, for example, heard about the bullet train linking the Johto and Kanto regions?" Darkrai raised an eyebrow at Dusk's line of questioning and then shook its head.

"Then today's your lucky day!" she said, then opened two particularly large vortexes, one in front of and behind Darkrai. Darkrai looked at the two in confusion. The sound of a train's horn blowing could then suddenly be heard, followed by a look of absolute terror on Darkrai's face.

A bullet train suddenly shot out of the vortex behind Darkrai, hitting the nightmare pokemon at a simply incredible speed and sending it sailing through the air. The train then exited through the second vortex and, in a matter of seconds, the lengthy vehicle was gone as quickly as it had disappeared. Dusk closed all her vortexes, then turned to look at the unconscious pokemon lying on the ground behind her.

"Done already?" Dusk asked, a smirk on her face. "Too bad. I was having fun. Maybe I should fight all my battles this way?" Dusk made a gesture with her hand, opening a vortex near Darkrai so a pair of ghostly hands could pull it into the Torn World. "I'd like to see someone show me where, in the official league rules, it says I can't summon a bullet train in the middle of battle. But now that that's over with..."

Dusk turned and started back across the bridge, being wary of the gap that had been left in it and stepping around the metal cube. She stopped when she reached the other side, where another girl was lying on the ground fast asleep. She couldn't help but think the girl looked so much more peaceful like that.

"Then again, I can see her like this whenever I want. Not that I'm a voyeur or anything like that," Dusk said to herself. A smirk then crossed her lips. Raising her foot up, she lightly kicked the girl in the stomach. "Hey. Dawn. Wake up." Dawn suddenly shrieked as Dusk said that, startling her into falling back onto her rear. Dawn quickly bolted up and looked around.

"Wh-wha? Where'd War Mech go? Why's Canalave in one piece all of a sudden?" she asked in confusion.

"Geez... only you would have a nightmare about something like that," Dusk said. Dawn finally turned and looked at her.

"You again!" Dawn narrowed her eyes into a glare. "Didn't I tell you not to bother me today?"

"I wasn't bothering you, I was helping," Dusk replied, then stood up and dusted off her cloak. "But on that note..." Dusk looked down at Dawn, staring at her intently now. "What happened to Giratina?"

"Huh?" Dawn blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You two fought, right?" Dusk asked. "I don't know how you beat it, nor do I want to know. It's probably something stupid. So just tell me where Giratina went after the battle."

"Beats me," Dawn replied with a shrug, then finally stood up herself. "It just disappeared into the Torn World."

"Guess asking you was pointless afterall," Dusk grumbled. She opened her mouth to say something else, but stopped when she heard the sound of footsteps rapidly crossing the wooden bridge.

"HEY! YOU!" a girl's voice called out to her. Dusk glanced back over her shoulder to see Melany and Rina running toward her.

"Ah, and it seems like I've overstayed my welcome now." Dusk shrugged and opened a vertical vortex next to her. "Well, I'm done for now regardless. I have too many things to do to be playing hero all the time," she said, then started to walk into the vortex. "Until we meet again, Dawn..."

"What's she going on about now?" Dawn asked, grumbling.

"Hey, are you okay?" Melany asked as she ran up to her. "That girl didn't do anything funny, did she?"

"She doesn't seem to think so," Dawn replied. "But what just happened here?"

"I don't really get it, but it seems everyone in Canalave suddenly fell asleep," Melany said, then shuddered. "I dreamed I was fighting some psycho water trainer in the middle of the ocean and ended up in the water..."

"I... I don't want to talk about it..." Rina said, shuddering. "A-anyway, why are you here, Dawn?"

"Ah! That's right!" Dawn said, suddenly remembering why she had come to Canalave in the first place. "I wanted to ask you two to help me with my pokemon training, if you're not busy that is..."

"I guess we could spare some time," Melany said. "But before that, we should probably make sure everyone's alright. And then maybe grab a bite to eat."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Dawn said and let out a sigh. Though they technically had no obligation to do so, they felt like they had to check out the situation being the powerful trainers that they were.

Afterall, there was always the possibility that a legendary pokemon was screwing around.

* * *

Author's Notes: This was a surprisingly fun chapter to write. Originally, I was going to have Dawn have access to her pokemon during the nightmare section and facing That One Boss after That One Boss, but I decided that wasn't very nightmarish and settled on having her being chased by one fairly iconic one. Afterall, run into War Mech unprepared and you were pretty much screwed.

Then there was Dusk's portion of the chapter, in which she basically used her vortexes as portals again but this time she really put them to good use. I guess you could say Dusk's really thinking with portals now. All in all, a really video gamey chapter.


	46. Chapter 45: Charon Shakes Things Up

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 45**

**Charon Shakes Things Up**

"So those are your new pokemon, huh? Cranidos seems fairly impressive at least," Melany said, then reached over the table to hand Dawn's pokedex back to her. After making a quick check over the city and discovering, to their relief, that there was no serious damage caused by Darkrai's attack, the three girls stopped by a local diner for a quick bite to eat and to discuss Dawn's training.

"Then... what about the other two?" Dawn asked. Melany shrugged.

"Fish usually aren't the best water pokemon unless you think you're going to fight a lot of water battles, in which case they'll likely have more speed and maneuverability than the opponent's pokemon," Melany replied, then took a sip of her drink. It was a large soda that came with her meal of a burger and fries. Today, they were eating at a simple fast food joint.

"As for the nosepass," Melany continued, "I think it has a new evolution, but I never really looked into it much. Might be an interesting pokemon to study though..."

"Wanna trade then?" Dawn asked, grinning slightly. She and Rina had finished eating rather quickly compared to Melany as Melany had been distracted checking out Dawn's pokedex. All three of them had ordered almost the same thing, only with different burgers. Pippi, Rina's pikachu, was with them as well, under the table sucking on ketchup packets.

"No offense, but if I was going to trade one of my pokemon, it wouldn't be to you," Melany said. Seeing Dawn frown at that, she decided to explain further. "I've been with my pokemon for a while. If I was going to trade any of them, it'd have to be to someone I know and that they know as well."

"What if you traded a pokemon to me instead?" Rina suggested. "I could find another pokemon for Dawn, trade that pokemon to her for her nosepass, and then I'd trade nosepass to you..."

"Well, if it really had to be a trade..." Melany shrugged and looked over at Rina, who was sitting next to her. "What pokemon would you be looking for?"

Rina thought about it for a moment. "How about Golem?" Rina asked. "I know you had that one for almost as long as you've been a trainer, but lately you seem more interested in your Rhyperior. And I just find myself wanting a golem for some reason..."

"Maybe it's fate." Melany jokingly suggested. "I guess you're right though. Rhyperior is an incredibly durable pokemon and no slouch on the offense either, so I've been focusing on that a lot more lately."

"By the way, what were you two doing at the library anyway?" Dawn asked them.

"Digging up information on the legendary pokemon," Rina replied. "Based on our research, that sudden nightmare epidemic was likely caused by a pokemon called Darkrai." Rina then let out a sigh. "No idea why it did that, or why it stopped, though..."

_I bet I know_, Dawn thought, recalling her encounter with Dusk.

"What caught my interest was the story about the Original One," Melany said, finally setting her drink down. "Based on what I read, some unnamed pokemon called the Original One is thought to have created the Sinnoh region. Though the story itself was pretty much useless as far as gaining any relevant info goes, I was able to find a few pieces of information."

"Wait, so there was nothing in the Original One myth worth knowing?" Dawn asked in disbelief. It seemed pretty shallow minded, especially after what they had been through.

Melany shrugged. "Just more stories depicting legendary pokemon as godlike figures. Legends tend to exaggerate the details, even if legendary pokemon are still incredibly powerful."

"Then what DO you think of the Original One myth?" Dawn asked in an almost challenging tone.

"Based on the data I was able to collect, I think this Original One was the pokemon that created Dialga and Palkia," Melany explained. "It's also believed to be a physical representation of the original spirit, which is the spirit of humans and pokemon. If there's any truth to that, I think it means this particular legendary pokemon is something of an imperfect being that might have had some potential for godhood."

"Uh huh..." Dawn intoned dryly. "I get the feeling you don't believe in gods."

"I wouldn't go quite that far, but I don't believe in pokemon being gods," Melany replied. "If that 'original spirit' exists, it would likely be the closest thing to a god of this world."

"Theology debate aside..." Rina interrupted when she noticed Dawn's mood steadily getting worse as the conversation went on. "We've got enough info to know what we'd be up against should anymore legendary pokemon show up, with the exception of that 'renegade'. Information on that was even more scarce than on the Original One..."

"Though, in all likelihood, the pokemon you fought is that renegade, Dawn," Melany said.

_So Giratina is some kind of renegade... but doesn't that make it and Dusk the bad guys?_ Dawn thought. _I always thought Dusk seemed more misguided than anything..._

"Really seems like there's a lot of legends in the Sinnoh region, though," Melany mused. "More than any other region I've been to anyway..."

Meanwhile, while the three girls were talking, Pippi had finished her last ketchup packet and was now eying a ketchup dispenser on a nearby counter. She stepped out from under the table and then peered about cautiously. None of the girls were paying attention to her, leaving her free to stealthily creep closer to the ketchup dispenser.

As Pippi was walking past the table next to their's, though, a man in a black cloak got up from the table and walked past her. Pippi stopped and watched him as he passed by the girls' table, trying to act casual. Feigning a cough and bringing his hand up to cover his mouth, he discreetly dropped a small slip of paper from his left sleeve. The paper landed in front of Dawn.

_What was that just now?_ Pippi wondered, forgetting about her previous "mission" to see what the deal with the note was.

Seeing the note, Dawn looked back and forth between it and the retreating cloaked figure. Eventually, she picked it up and quickly read it over. She quirked an eyebrow when she read the contents. "Hey, I just got this weird note..." Dawn said, then handed the note in question to Rina. Rina quickly looked it over.

"It says we're being watched... and to find a TV?" Rina blinked in confusion. "Umm... I guess we should find a TV then?"

"Well, we were finished here anyway," Melany mumbled and got up from her chair. "If we really are being watched, that kinda bothers me a bit. But there's a TV in the pokemon center, maybe we can see whatever this is about on that?" The other two girls nodded in agreement and got up from the table to leave.

"-Damn!-" Pippi growled, snapping her fingers. Ketchup would have to wait now.

* * *

After departing from the restaurant, the girls headed over to the pokemon center. Inside the center, the TV was already going, playing the broadcast that was almost undoubtedly what the message was referring to. Though they had missed the beginning, the TV showed Charon, ex-Commander of Team Galactic, making an announcement. He was flanked on either side by a Team Galactic grunt.

"...by tomorrow morning. If my demands are not met by then, I will activate one seismic driver each day that you delay, leveling entire sections of the Sinnoh region until they are," Charon said. "Furthermore, at the first sign of any attempt to discover their location, or to discover my location and retalliate, they will be activated."

"Hey, what's going on here, exactly?" Melany asked a nearby trainer, hoping to get more information.

"This Charon guy's demanding a whole bunch of money from the Sinnoh League, and if they don't do it he's going to destroy the region!" the trainer replied.

"And by all means, try to call my bluff," the broadcast continued, with Charon grinning and spreading his arms. "Should I need to destroy the entire region with earthquakes, then so be it! Sinnoh's destruction will only serve to ensure that whatever region I target next will immediately give in to my demands!"

"You mean this guy is actually holding the entire region for ransom!" Rina said in shock. "That's insane! There's no way he could be able to..."

"He can..." Dawn said, interrupting her. "While I was training on Iron Island, Team Galactic was there experimenting with a machine that could cause tremors." Rina looked at her in disbelief. Dawn continued. "Riley was there too. We were able to shut down that machine, but I think Team Galactic still got whatever research out of it that they needed."

"In other words, that was the prototype, and now they've mass produced..." Melany muttered, eyes narrowing. "I've never even heard of this guy, but it seems he might have been working behind Team Galactic's back all this time..."

"And don't expect any heroes to be showing up, either," Charon continued. "I have the gym leaders all under surveillance, as well as the trainer who joined them in their attack on the headquarters. Should any of them try anything funny, I will trigger one of the seismic drivers."

"And that explains the note..." Dawn concluded. "Letting me know not to try anything..."

"He doesn't seem to think me or Rina are anyone to be concerned with, but no doubt whoever dropped off that note would probably mention us just because we were associating with you," Melany added grimly. "Even if we weren't locked down here, though, we couldn't attack this guy without risking him destroying Sinnoh. We'd have to find those machines of his."

"So... that's it then? This guy wins and gets all that money he's been asking for?" Rina asked Melany.

"No," Melany replied, shaking her head. "There's still some variables he hasn't considered." She then reached for her backpack and took out her pokenav. "Let's try making a few calls..."

* * *

"Really, just what's with these weird machines in the middle of nowhere?" Ashley grumbled, arms folded. Venusaur stood nearby, vines extended and crushing a crab-like robot that stood about half as tall as Ashley. After crushing it, Venusaur tossed the broken remains into a pile with three others.

With the last defender removed, a stream of flames shot past Ashley and Venusaur, engulfing a strange, piston-like machine behind the pile of scrap metal. The machine began to bend and twist under the intense heat of the flames, then eventually started to melt and shrink down. The flames stopped when most of the base had been melted.

"And that takes care of that," Ashley said, then turned to the black haired girl and her Arcanine. "Sorry about getting you involved in this, Marley."

"You couldn't have known," Marley replied quietly. Her Arcanine nodded its head in agreement.

"Well, we should be almost there regardless, so-" Ashley was interrupted before she could finish speaking by the sound of something ringing. She looked around in confusion for a moment, then rememebred her pokenav. It was rare for her to receive a call on it, especially when she had a cellphone of her own. Reaching into her travel bag, Ashley took out the pokenav and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" A voice on the other end began to speak and Ashley listened quietly while starting to make her way through the cave, walking around the remains of the machinery her and Marley had destroyed. Marley and Arcanine followed behind her, eying the pokenav curiously. She didn't get far, though, before stopping to look back at the scrap metal behind her.

"Funny you should mention that... we just finished beating up some robots and destroyed... well I guess it could have been one of those 'seismic driver' things." A pause. "Oh, I'm with another trainer. Her name's Marley, we just happened to be going the same way. Ah... looked kind of like a piston."

"I wonder what that machine has to do with this?" Marley whispered to Arcanine. Arcanine gave a shrug.

After another brief moment of silence from Ashley while she listened to the voice on the other end. Then she nodded. "Alright. Guess if things are like that then I don't have much of a choice. I'll make the call. Love you, bye!" Ashley snickered to herself and pressed the 'end' button. "Well, jokes aside, that does sound pretty bad..."

"If I may ask... is there something wrong?" Marley asked her.

"Some jerk is holding Sinnoh hostage for a ransom to be paid by the pokemon league and that machine we destroyed is probably related," Ashley said to her, then started to dial another number on her pokenav. "Somehow, my friends are basically locked down completely, so I need to make the call to get help."

"I see," Marley said to her. _What a busy individual..._

* * *

"Well, that should take care of things," Melany said with a confident smirk on her face as she put her pokenav away. "Probably not much more we can do than that, though, so let's just hope he acts quickly."

"Why didn't you call him yourself instead of getting Ashley to do it?" Rina asked her.

"I have my reasons," Melany replied. "Besides that, Ashley might be able to help out too."

"But what if someone tries to find and attack Charon before then?" Dawn asked. "More than likely, Charon's back at one of the two Galactic buildings. There's one in Eterna and one in Veilstone. If someone tried to attack either, it would be bad..."

"That's why we need to act quickly," Melany replied. "We can't wait for the Sinnoh League to act, they're probably under lockdown themselves. All they can do is try to get the money he's after, but I'm sure the league officials won't be too keen on giving into demands so quickly. And the longer this goes on, the higher the chances are of someone trying to play hero."

"-Isn't that what you're trying to do now?-" Pippi rolled her eyes. "-Humans.-"

Pippi's comments earned her a light tap from Rina's foot, as she was the only one who understood her. "Even so, how do you expect to even find these seismic driver things? We can't exactly go looking for them."

"I'm hoping for a bit of help there," Melany said, then turned to Dawn. "Given what we know about her, I think there's a good chance that girl keeping an eye on Dawn might be willing to help in some way. Even if all she can do is find Charon and get the location of the seismic drivers, that'd be enough to disable them all in a matter of minutes. Or less."

"Just one more question," Dawn said, then raised an eyebrow at Melany. "Just HOW do you expect LUCAS of all people to be able to help us?"

* * *

Lucas let out a sigh as he clicked a button on his cellphone, ending the conversation. "How do they expect me to do anything, exactly? I don't even know where to begin and it's not like..." Lucas extended his arm toward the grass-covered terrain of Route 204. "I can really do anything from here."

"Perhaps I could help with that?" Lucas heard a girl saying from behind. Turning around, his eyes widened at the sight of the purple haired girl stepping out of the dark vortex behind her. "Seems people are causing no end of trouble today. Charon's lucky I just finished lunch, else I would drop him in the seas of Hoenn and see how long he survives before the sharpedo get him."

"You... you're Dusk, right?" Lucas asked, narrowing his eyes at her. His meetings with the girl were rather infrequent compared to Dawn. "And why would you be willing to help?"

"Incase you didn't notice, I'm not exactly working to destroy Sinnoh," the girl said to him. "And if you couldn't tell from what I said, I've been kept rather busy today. My pokemon are beat, and I don't have the convenience of a pokemon center to heal them. So I'm rather incapable of stopping Charon at this point in time."

"And how are you supposed to help me anyway?" Lucas asked her.

"I've already taken the liberty of spying on Charon's operation and discovering the location of these 'seismic drivers' even before any of you were making a move," Dusk said to him, then gave a wave of her hand. Several vortexes opened before Lucas. Each showed another vortex within, each of which in turn were showing a piston-like device. "Those are Charon's machines. With my vortexes, you can easily disable them all from here."

Lucas looked at the individual vortexes in disbelief and then shook his head. "This seems way too easy..."

"Yes, well, having the right tools at your disposal makes this incident much easier to deal with," Dusk said, shrugging. "The lack of legendary pokemon on the opposing side helps as well. Destroy a mere machine and we win. I take it you can do that much?"

"Six machines, six pokemon. I can handle that much," Lucas replied. Stepping back from the vortexes, Lucas set about releasing each of his pokemon. Among them were a lickilicky, a magmortar, a crobat, an alakazam, a clefable, and a piplup. Each of them were positioned in front of one of the open vortexes.

"Good. And do hurry," Dusk said. "There's a rather dangerous individual rapidly approaching the Eterna City Galactic Building, where Charon is staying." She then turned and walked back into her own vortex, closing it behind her. But despite her absence, her voice could still be heard. "It'd be bad if he activated those machines because of her."

"Yeah, I get it," Lucas grumbled and let out a sigh. "Alright, everyone, you can see your targets. Hit those machines with your strongest ranged attacks and take them out in one go! We might not have much time!"

* * *

Lucas didn't know just how little time he really had. While he and Dusk were talking, the dangerous girl Dusk was referring to had already arrived in Eterna City. Even now, she hovered on her pokemon, a green skinned dragon pokemon that bore a strong resemblance to a dragonfly.

"Okay, just have to figure out the best spot to make my entrance now," the girl mumbled to herself. It was none other than May, who had also heard the news of Charon's demand and immediately rushed out to stop him. Of course, she wasn't reckless enough to risk Sinnoh's destruction in her efforts. She had a plan. If she went straight at Charon himself in a surprise attack, she could take him out before he could activate the machines.

While May was contemplating the best spot to make her ambush from, a drone in the shape of a TV dropped down in front of her. She didn't notice it, though. Not until the TV turned on and Charon's ugly mug filled the screen. "I wouldn't try anything funny, girl."

"What the... where'd you come from!" May yelled in confusion.

"Did you really think I wouldn't notice your approach?" Charon snickered. "Fool. Now, I suggest you land and disarm yourself of your pokemon. Otherwise, something unfortunate might happen to Sinnoh. And don't think I can't back up my claims." The screen then split into eight smaller screens, all but two showing one of Charon's seismic drivers. The remaining two screens were black.

_Damn it! Was I too careless!_ May wondered, clenching her fist. _I don't want to give in so easily, but do I have any other options?_

As May was debating her next move, though, she noticed something strange on the screens. Each of the six remaining machines suddenly came under attack from out of nowhere. First she saw a long tongue stretch out suddenly and smash straight through one machine. Another was melted down by a sudden blast of flames. A third had a blade of air slice clean through the top of it. The fourth seismic driver was suddenly torn out of the ground and thrown away. The fifth suddenly seemed to crack and bend under its own weight and then fell apart. A beam struck the last machine and began to freeze it. It started to break apart as the insides of it froze as well.

"That... umm..." May blinked. She didn't know quite what to make of the sudden destruction of Charon's machines, which was rather obviously caused by pokemon attacks. It took a moment for May to get it together. "That was exactly what I had planned!" she said, forcing a grin. "You took me for a fool, Charon, but I already had allies taking care of your machines!"

"This... this is impossible!" Charon growled. His voice could be heard, though the screen still depicted the destroyed seismic drivers. "My drones would have alerted me to any attacks, and the only such attack was before my announcement was finished! There's no way anyone could have destroyed them so easily!"

"But they were, and what's done is done!" May said, grinning. "Now, why don't you turn yourself over quietly, or I'll show you how to REALLY cause an earthquake and destroy your headquarters for good!"

"-Never send a human machine to do a ground-type pokemon's job, I say!-" Flygon added.

"That won't do you any good. I'm already evacuating, you see," Charon said to her through the TV drone. "In the meantime, why don't you play with my new toy?"

May raised an eyebrow. "New toy? ... Hey, why is it getting darker here all of a sudden?"

Flygon's keen senses alerted it to the new threat long before May had noticed. A shadow had fallen over them, but Flygon quickly flew out of that shadow just in time to avoid the metal, crab-like robot that dropped down from the roof. It crashed down onto the ground below, cracking the pavement but remaining undamaged itself.

"Oh. That's why," May said, looking down at the robotic creature. "You know, I've heard people saying things like too many robotic pokemon are appearing these days, but I think this one takes the cake!"

"That 'robotic pokemon' is my own creation. The Anti-Trainer Mecha, tenth prototype series, blueprint 93. AKA, the X-ATM093, created from the scraps of the X-ATM092," Charon explained in far too many words for May's liking. "It will be interesting to see if you can deal any damage to it."

"Like we'll have any trouble with that!" May shot back. "Flygon, attack this thing with Hyper Beam!" Flygon hovered over the X-ATM093, then opened its mouth and fired a powerful energy beam straight down at it. The beam approached rapidly, only to stop short of its target as it seemingly struck an invisible barrier. The barrier remained in place until all the energy from Flygon's attack had dissipated.

"Okay... that thing's pretty tough for a robot..." May mumbled in disbelief.

"Though experimental, this barrier technology redirects any energy attack directed at it and disperses it around the machine," Charon said through the TV drone. "I've already tested it quite extensively against Hyper Beam attacks, however, and all but the strongest are redirected fully."

"Well, if at first you don't succeed..." May took a pair of pokeballs from her belt and pressed the buttons on each of them. A salamence and altaria appeared hovering in the air next to her. "Use more firepower! Salamence, Altaria, Flygon, Triple Draco Meteor!"

The three dragon pokemon raised their heads to the sky and let out a roar. Focusing their power, a mystic energy began to gather above them and formed into several large, blue comets. Each pokemon formed three comets, nine in all. The comets circled in the air as the energy continued to build. Once they had enough, they dropped.

Flygon quickly moved out of the way as nine blue fireballs shot down toward the mechanical beast on the ground, almost forming a chain in the air. The first comet struck the barrier around X-ATM093 and was dispersed around it. The second comet was likewise dispersed without any sign of the barrier faltering, though the air crackled with static by the time the third comet hit. It could obviously survive a Draco Meteor.

However, there was more than one Draco Meteor coming toward it, and the fourth comet that struck pushed the barrier even further over the edge. By the time the fifth comet had struck, the barrier crackled and then fizzled. Comets six through to nine all struck the machine one after another, engulfing the X-ATM093 in a small explosion.

The explosion from the ninth comet sent some shrapnel flying and, when the energy dispersed, the robot laid on the ground with several large cracks and holes in it. The legs had cracked and collapsed under it, and wires and other electronics from inside the machine were completely exposed. There wasn't any sign of life from the machine in the slightest.

"I see... so there are limits to how much energy the barrier can disperse afterall," Charon noted. "This will require further testing, but the X-ATM093 has served its purpose. It distracted you while I made my escape."

"Should have seen that coming..." May muttered, then looked toward the TV drone. "But that means the building is completely unguarded, right?" she asked.

"Err... yes?" Charon replied, confused by her question. If he could see it, the grin plastered across her face now would confuse him even more.

"Then let the looting commence!"

* * *

"This just in! Galactic Commander Charon has retracted his demands!" a young, male reporter on the TV said. "No word on why he backed down so quickly, but rumors are already circulating that his machines were somehow destroyed. We'll have more details as they come."

Melany whistled. "Less than fifteen minutes from the first call and Charon's already out of the picture. I'm impressed. I figured we'd have to prove his machines were destroyed first before he'd back down."

"Maybe he ran into trouble?" Rina suggested, shrugging. "Either way, I guess we don't have to do anything about that now, so why don't we get to helping Dawn with her training?"

"Right, right," Melany replied, then turned and started off out of the pokemon center with Rina. Dawn stared at the two in disbelief for a moment and then shrugged.

"No point in asking I guess, they don't seem to know either," she said, then started after them. "I wonder who it was that confronted Charon, then?"

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, Charon had his fifteen minutes of fame it would seem. Though he's not out of the picture yet. He still has to be foiled by a certain joke of a detective, afterall. In the end, this chapter ended up being setup more than anything.

Next chapter will continue the scene with Marley and Ashley, perhaps continuing a bit more things from this chapter as well. Like what Charon will be doing next and such.

Another day has yet to pass, by the way!


	47. Chapter 46: A Bit of Gratitude

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 46**

**A Bit of Gratitude**

After playing her part in foiling Charon's plan to hold the region for ransom, Ashley left the cave known as "Victory Road" through a different opening than most trainers would. The cave was named such as it was the last challenge many trainers would face before challenging the Elite Four and often served as a training ground for some of the strongest trainers in the region.

Most trainers just flew right over it when they were challenging the Elite Four, though.

Instead of arriving at the Sinnoh Pokemon League, the opening Ashley emerged from lead to Route 224. Following along behind her still was a younger trainer by the name of Marley, whom Ashley had encountered on her way through. Most of Marley's pokemon had already been defeated by the wild pokemon there, with her arcanine being the sole exception. Ashley helped her get back on her feet again once they got going and healed a few of Marley's pokemon.

"Well this is Route 224... no sign of the professor though..." Ashley said, scanning the terrain for any sign of the professor. She couldn't see him, but she wasn't discouraged. "Looks like the route continues toward the north. Let's keep going."

"Umm..." Ashley turned around when she heard Marley try to speak. The black haired girl was concentrating, choosing her words carefully. "Your friends...?"

"They'll be fine," Ashley assured her. "It's not like they're dealing with legendary pokemon with enough power to seriously threaten the entire world. Just a madman and his toys."

"Oh..." Marley replied quietly. Her stoic expression disguised the surprise she felt at hearing Ashley speak of the incident so casually. She still knew little about the girl that was accompanying her but already she was getting the impression that already had quite a bit of experience saving the world. Marley wondered about what kind of things Ashley must have seen in her career as a trainer, but couldn't find the courage to ask.

"Anyway, let's keep going. Shouldn't be much further," Ashley said. The two girls and one canine pokemon started their short trek north from the cave exit. They passed a few trainers busy training along the way but were able to get by without any battles. Ashley was in no real hurry, but she'd rather not delay her meeting with the professor any longer.

It was some time ago that Ashley had received an e-mail from Professor Oak, asking her to meet with him and giving a time and location. The details about why he wanted her to meet with him were next to none. All Ashley knew was that the professor was researching one of Sinnoh's many legendary pokemon and wanted Ashley's help with that. From her talks with Marley, though, she had figured that pokemon to be Shaymin. It was a pokemon Marley seemed to be interested in as well.

Despite being only a single route that didn't lead to anywhere, not only were there many trainers, but the terrain was rather diverse. Exiting the cave, the girls first found themselves in a grassy, hilly area by the sea. Then, a small, forested area. Moving east along the landmass, they crossed through a beach and continued north across more hilly grasslands until eventually reaching a barren plateau with a single large, white rock near the northern tip. It was here that Professor Oak was waiting.

"Ah, Ashley, welcome. I see you brought a companion with you," the professor said, noticing Marley. He had his hands folded behind his back, standing next to the white rock as he was waiting for Ashley to arrive.

Ashley waved. "Hey Professor Oak!" she greeted him, then gestured toward the other girl with her. "This is Marley. She's a trainer I met in Victory Road that wants to meet Shaymin."

Marley curtsied to the professor. "A pleasure to meet you, sir."

"A pleasure to meet you as well," the professor replied with a smile. "If it is Shaymin you are looking for, then I believe you have come to the right place, at the right time." He then looked to Ashley and said, "No doubt you have figured out why I have called you here then?"

"To summon Shaymin, right?"

"That is correct," the professor replied, then gestured toward the white rock. "And I believe this is how it shall be done. With this rock."

"Hmm?" Ashley looked at the rock curiously and then shrugged. "Looks like an ordinary rock to me. But then again, the crystal Jirachi was sealed in was sealed inside an ordinary white rock too..."

"I don't quite think the pokemon is sealed inside the rock this time," the professor said to her. "Rather, I believe this rock is used to summon it. In Kanto, there is a similar rock, upon which people inscribe the names of those to whom they wish to show their gratitude toward as a form of well-wishing toward that person. However, in this case..."

"Write something on the rock, and it might summon Shaymin?" Ashley asked, finishing Oak's statement. She could imagine the rock in Kanto would likely be covered in names, but one look at this particular rock told her it had never been used in such a way.

"Write the name of one whom you wish to show gratitude to, and the pokemon of gratitude will appear before you," Marley said, sounding as if she were quoting something she had heard before. Her right hand lightly brushed against a satchel hanging at her side, reminding herself of why she had come here. It was then that she felt Ashley's hand on her back, urging her forward. Marley looked at her in confusion.

"You came here for this, right? Why don't you write something on the rock?" Ashley suggested. Marley seemed to consider it, and then nodded quietly. She approached the rock and looked at Professor Oak questioningly.

The professor stroked his chin and contemplated it briefly, then gave a light shrug. "Well, I suppose it makes no difference who writes on the rock..." The professor reached into his pocket and produced a piece of green chalk, then handed it to Marley. "Ashley seems to trust you, so I will as well."

"I see..." Marley mumbled. She took the piece of chalk hesitantly and then looked at the rock. She wasn't sure at first whose name she should put down. It didn't take long for her to figure it out, though. At this moment in time, the person to whom she owed the most gratitude toward was the girl who had helped her in getting to this rock in the first place. With that thought in mind, she wrote Ashley's name on the rock and then stepped back.

"An interesting choice," the professor mused. Marley flinched when she heard him speaking and bit her lip to resist saying anything in response. It was a bit annoying that he was looking over her shoulder, but she was worried about what might happen is she said anything.

"But nothing happened..." Ashley said. The ground then suddenly began to shake. Ashley slapped her hand against her forehead. "Me and my big mouth..."

The ground shook as though an earthquake had suddenly struck the area. At first, the cause was unknown. Ashley was the first to spot the island rising out of the water in the distance and immediately pointed it out to the others. Water cascaded down the barren, rocky plateau as it rose up out of the water. Before long, the ocean itself seemed to break as a long, narrow path rose up with the plateau.

"My word... this 'gratitude pokemon' certainly knows how to make an entrance..." Professor Oak noted, chuckling to himself.

"Looks like the pokemon must be out on that island," Ashley said, then scratched her head. "Strange. You'd think a pokemon like this would have a livelier-looking island than this."

As if to answer Ashley, the barren island that seemed to be the pokemon's home suddenly started turning green as grass spontaneously began to grow. It started from the top, then moved down the sides of the island until it hit the water. The greenery began to travel down the Seabreak Path, but didn't get very far from the island before stopping rather abruptly.

Following shortly behind the sudden growth of grass, flowers began to grow on the island. Again, they started from the top and then worked their way down to sea level and out across the Seabreak Path until they reached the spot where the grass had stopped. There were a large variety of different flowers sporting a multitude of colors. Once it finally seemed like it was over, flowers and grass began to grow across the rest of the Seabreak Path, and a small pokemon could just barely be seen crossing it.

"That must be our pokemon coming now," the professor said, gesturing toward the approaching grass and flowers. As the line of spontaneous growth drew closer, a pokemon that looked like a green and white chia pet could be seen rushing toward them. When it reached the end of the path, which connected directly to the hill the group was on, it looked around at the three with a big smile on its face.

_I know better than to judge a pokemon by its appearance, especially legendary pokemon_, Ashley thought when she finally saw it. _But this one doesn't look strong at all..._

"Shaymin..." Marley said under her breath. Slowly, she began to walk toward it. Shaymin spotted her and, still wearing that same smile on its face, suddenly bolted back across the pathway toward its island again.

"I think that pokemon wants to play," Ashley said, then looked over at Marley. "Why don't you follow it? You have something for Shaymin anyway, right?"

"Yes..." Marley replied quietly, her hand resting on the satchel. Ashley nodded and then looked at Professor Oak expectantly.

"Hmm..." The professor considered the situation for a moment and then looked at Marley sternly. "Young lady, might I ask why it is you sought out this pokemon?"

Marley mentally struggled to come up with the words for a moment before responding to the professor. "I... I don't like to talk..." she said to him. "I choose my words carefully, but they may still hurt someone accidentally... When I think of that, I clam up..."

Marley gazed at the island in the distance as she continued to speak. "That's why I think this pokémon is so wonderful. It's a pokémon that conveys the feelings of gratitude in a nice way..." Feeling a bit braver, she then turned and bowed to the professor, and then to Ashley. "You two made it so I could see it... thank you..."

Ashley grinned at her and said, "You mean we made it so you could catch that pokemon!"

Marley was stunned by Ashley's words. "But I..."

"I suppose that would be fine," the professor added, nodding. "I see no reason that this pokemon couldn't be entrusted to you. However, I would like the chance to study its capabilities in return so I may add its data to the national pokedex."

"But... but I just..."

"You just wanted to see it and give it something, right?" Ashley asked her. Marley fell silent and nodded to her. "But, even so, that pokemon's likely expecting you on its island now. It'd probably be pretty disappointed if I battled it instead of you."

"I... well..." Marley stared off toward the island again, contemplating what Ashley and the professor were saying, then turned to Ashley and nodded. "Okay... I'll try to catch it. Arcanine?" The orange furred canine, who had been keeping its distance, moved toward Marley and lowered its head. Marley then carefully mounted her pokemon and looked at Ashley again. "Will you be coming too?"

"I'll follow you on one of my flying pokemon in a bit. You should probably at least greet the pokemon by yourself," Ashley said. Marley was hesitant to move when she realized she would be on her own for a while, but then nodded and motioned toward the path. Her arcanine moved toward the path and then ran like the wind all the way across.

"I'm surprised you made that decision so easily," the professor said to Ashley. "What will the other girls think of you letting another trainer catch a legendary pokemon? Marley might not agree to store her pokemon on that island, afterall."

Ashley shrugged. "Even if she didn't, I don't think even Melany would care too much," she said. "I mean, who would be after that pokemon anyway? The worst someone could do with it is probably cause an outbreak of flowers everywhere."

"Well, I'm sure there's some people who could abuse that for profit," the professor said to her. "Still, I see your point. This particular legendary pokemon hardly seems like it would be a threat if it fell into the wrong hands."

"For now, I have to agree, but isn't figuring out its capabilities your job?" Ashley asked the professor, flashing him a grin. Professor Oak just chuckled and nodded, his attention now fixated on the flower-covered island in the distance. Ashley directed her attention toward it as well now.

* * *

The path that had formed between Route 224 and Shaymin's island, known as Flower Paradise, was quite long. In spite of that, Marley crossed the path in no time thanks to Arcanine's speed. When she arrived, Shaymin was sitting in the middle of the island, still wearing that same smile on its face. It really did seem to Marley that the pokemon had been expecting her to follow it. She dismounted from Arcanine and slowly approached Shaymin.

"Shaymin, I... I have something for you..." she said to it. Shaymin tilted its head to the side, looking confused by this. Stopping in front of it, Marley opened her satchel and reached inside to retrieve a pink flower. Shaymin's smile instantly returned upon seeing it, recognizing it as a gracidea flower.

Shaymin reached out to touch the flower and became enveloped in a white light, as if it were evolving. In fact, that seemed to be exactly what was happening. It's legs grew longer, giving it a more dog-like appearance now. Wings grew from its head, and the grass that was on its back disappeared and instead it was left with a mohawk and what looked like a scarf. This wasn't an actual evolution, however. When the light faded, what stood before Marley now was Shaymin's Sky Forme.

In its new form, Shaymin was quick to show off its new abilities to a stunned Marley. It took off into the air and flew in a few, wide circles around her before flying far out in front of her and turning sideways. It flapped its headwings a few times, drawing in the surrounding air, then gave one more flap to send a crescent-shaped blade spinning through the grass and flowers, cutting a path clean through them. Shaymin then landed on the bare path and focused its power, regrowing all the plants it had destroyed.

"Amazing..." Marley whispered breathlessly. Shaymin turned to Marley and nodded. It had a wide grin on its face and was looking pretty confident with itself. _It seems as though its personality has changed as well... Shaymin looks like it wants to battle us now_, she thought, then turned to her arcanine and nodded. The fiery canine pokemon quickly moved out ahead of her.

"Then... shall we battle, Shaymin?" she asked it. Shaymin quickly nodded in response. "Very well! Arcanine, begin with Flare Blitz!" Arcanine let out a roar and flames shot up from its fur, surrounding its entire body in fire. Then, it took off running, giving it the appearance of a giant ball of fire as it charged toward Shaymin.

Shaymin was quick to show off the agility of its new form, however, and swiftly moved aside and then circled around to position itself behind Arcanine. Shaymin began flapping its headwings, drawing air toward itself, then gave another flap to send a crescent-shaped blade of air at Arcanine. Arcanine helped in pain as the blade cut clean down the center of its back, causing the flames to disperse. Arcanine quickly came to a stop so it could figure out just what hit it, only to turn around and see Shaymin snickering at it.

"-You're too slow!-" Shaymin taunted him.

_Shaymin is quite fast and agile in this new form,_ Marley thought. A rare smile crept across her lips at that. _Fortunately, speed happens to be something all of my pokemon excel at!_

"Arcanine, Extremespeed," Marley instructed her pokemon. Arcanine grinned.

"-You're about to eat those words!-" Arcanine said to Shaymin. Then, with a sudden and incredible burst of speed, he shot off toward it. Shaymin barely had time to even realize that Arcanine had moved before being struck by a powerful physical blow that sent it careening through the air. It then hit the ground and kept bouncing and rolling, but eventually it bounced and managed to catch itself in the air.

Shaymin had taken a lot of damage from that one blow, but was still very much able to battle and immediately looked around for its opponent. It was surprised to turn around and find Arcanine behind it, putting himelf between Shaymin and Marley. Shaymin quickly flew back, distancing itself from Arcanine.

"-Seems like you've got more speed in you than you let on...-" Shaymin muttered. Arcanine flashed it a grin, but said nothing. Marley, meanwhile, was quickly moving off to the east side of the island where she could watch and issue commands from a much safer location.

_Judging by the effect that Arcanine's attack had on Shaymin, it isn't very tough defensively, so one more hit like that and... wait, what's that noise?_ A strange whistling noise had caught Marley's attention. She could only faintly hear it, but felt a bit drowsy even from that. Arcanine, who had much more sensitive ears, was suffering the full effect and was soon fast asleep. Marley realized all too late that the whistling noise was coming from Shaymin.

_Grass Whistle! I better recall him._ Marley took Arcanine's pokeball from her belt and recalled her pokemon, then took another pokeball in her hand. While she was switching pokemon, she didn't notice Shaymin drawing light into its body. It was using Synthesis, drawing the light to itself and using it for healing.

"Electrode..." Marley held out her pokeball and released what looked like a larger pokeball into the field of flowers. "Attack with Hyper Beam," she then commanded. Though Hyper Beam was a very powerful attack, it was far from the worst Electrode could do since, being an electric-type, Thunder would actually be stronger. Electrode also wasn't very strong on the offense, but had incredible speed.

Electrode's body began to glow before firing out a large energy beam straight from it. Its body continued to glow while the beam was firing, making it look like Electrode itself was part of the beam. Shaymin was caught off guard by the attack and cried out as it was blown back by a direct hit. The beam pushed Shaymin back until it reached the end of the island, where Shaymin dropped out of the line of fire and was able to fly back onto the island and avoid the remainder of the beam. To Marley's surprise, it hardly looked any worse than it did after being struck by Arcanine's attack.

_How odd... did it heal without me noticing?_ Marley wondered. _Either way, it seems Electrode is open to attack now while it recharges... I wonder what Shaymin will do?_

Marley didn't have to wonder for very long as Shaymin was soon making its move. First, it positioned itself over the destruction caused by Electrode's attack. A shallow ditch had been cut across the island from Electrode's Hyper Beam. The flowers and grass had been completely incinerated by the Hyper Beam. A soft glow surrounded Shaymin and almost instantly that bare ditch was covered in flowers once again.

Marley was confused at first and for the briefest of moments thought Shaymin was repairing the damage caused by Electrode instead of attacking. However, the regrowth of the flowers was quickly accompanied by a sudden, green burst of energy from Shaymin that shot out in all directions, engulfing Electrode in the blast. Though it seemed to carry no force behind it, Electrode had been rendered unconscious by the blast.

_That must be Shaymin's special technique,_ Marley thought as she recalled Electrode. _A grass-type attack no doubt, and a powerful one. I will have to be careful of it. But who should I send out next?_ Marley pondered her next move, but while she did she noticed Shaymin drawing light toward its body. At first she assumed it was Solarbeam, but then she noticed how its body shimmered after.

_Synthesis... so that's why it was able to endure Electrode's attack_, Marley thought, then finally took a pokeball from her belt. _Well, Shaymin seems proud of its speed. So perhaps I could deal a harsh blow with a much speedier pokemon?_

"Ninjask, your turn," Marley said as she sent out her pokemon. A small, winged insect pokemon with a gold mask on its face appeared hovering over the field. Its wings were making a very loud buzzing noise from the rate at which they were flapping, which seemed to be increasing by the second.

"-A bug, huh? I'll squash you easily!-" Shaymin said confidently, then began flapping its wings, drawing in air. Then, with one final flap, it launched a crescent-shaped blade at Ninjask. Ninjask easily evaded it. Ninjask shot off in a blur of movement, though it only moved a few feet away to evade the attack, showing both its incredible speed and control.

No pokemon can match Ninjask for speed, Marley thought, smiling to herself. "Ninjask, Aerial Ace." Ninjask flew up high and then shot down toward Shaymin, seemingly all in one motion. Shaymin cried out in pain as Ninjask shot past it, raking across Shaymin's body with its small claws.

"-Wh-what the!-" Shaymin cried out in shock. It couldn't believe just how fast Ninjask was, as even Shaymin couldn't follow its movements. "-Such speed... and is it getting faster!-"

"Ninjask, once more. Aerial Ace." Marley commanded. The battle was suddenly seeming quite one-sided. Ninjask darted straight up into the air, preparing for another attack. Shaymin tried to follow its movement so it could get ready with a counter attack, but Ninjask was simply too fast for it. The bug pokemon dove straight down toward Shaymin again, slashing it with its claws. Shaymin cried out in pain and dropped to the ground.

_Did I overdo it?_ Marley wondered, though was soon relieved to see Shaymin struggling to get back on its feet. Marley reached into her satchel again, which still had a few items in it. Though she didn't have any healing items, having already used what few she had, she did have two special pokeballs in it. The pokeballs looked, for the most part, like normal pokeballs, except they were yellow on the sides and had a lightning bolt on top.

The pokeball Marley grabbed was actually a "fast ball", a special type of pokeball used to catch fast pokemon. Naturally, favoring such speedy pokemon herself, it was Marley's pokeball of choice. Gripping the fast ball in her hand, she gave it a good, hard toss toward Shaymin. Shaymin didn't notice the pokeball coming as it was too focused on Ninjask. There was a look of surprise on its face when the ball struck it, opening up and pulling Shaymin inside. When the ball fell to the ground it began to shake a few times, then stopped shaking and locked shut.

Marley was stunned by the sight of the fast ball sitting in the grass, completely unmoving. When it finally sunk in that she had caught Shaymin on the first try, she cried out in joy. "YES! I CAUGHT SHAYMIN!" she cheered, then immediately covered her mouth when she realized what she did.

"And on the first ball, too! Pretty impressive!" Hearing another girl's voice, Marley's face turned beet red. She slowly turned her head and saw Ashley standing next to her with a large, tan-feathered bird pokemon she recognized as a pidgeot standing behind her. Ashley flashed her a grin. "You know, it's okay to get excited sometimes. I don't think there's anyone that'd hold it against you for something like this..."

"Th-thank you..." Marley mumbled, casting her gaze toward the ground. "It's just... I was so excited..."

"Completely understandable," Ashley reassured her, then looked to where the fast ball that caught Shaymin still rested in the flowers. "So that's a fast ball... wonder how those work? I heard they're really good at catching speedy pokemon. Guess it shows."

"Yes..." Marley said quietly, nodding in agreement. Without another word, she walked over to the pokeball and picked it up. Ninjask, whom was still buzzing around, flew over to Marley and hovered next to her. Marley smiled and patted the bug pokemon on the head.

"Well, if you're ready, then lets head back to the professor now," Ashley said to Marley as she mounted Pidgeot again. "Come on, I'll give you a ride back on Pidgeot."

Marley nodded. "Okay," she said, then took a pokeball in her hand and turned to Ninjask. "Ninjask... thank you. You worked hard today, but you can rest now," she said, then held out the pokeball and recalled him. She then hopped on Pidgeot's back with Ashley and the two flew back across the sea to where the professor was waiting.

Shortly after the trainers left, the flowers on the island began to rustle. One by one, several Shaymin poked their heads out from the flowers, watching the trainers leave with curious expressions on their small faces.

* * *

Author's Notes: In the second gen games, the Fast Ball had the effect of a drastically increased capture rate if a wild pokemon was about to flee. In the fourth gen games, however, the Fast Ball instead has that same increased capture rate but now against pokemon with a minimum base speed stat of 100. Of course, this means even in its land form the Fast Ball would work wonders on Shaymin since all of Shaymin's stats in that form are base 100. There's quite a few legendary pokemon that it'd be worth stocking up on Fast Balls for, in fact. Heavy Balls are also good for going after legendary pokemon.

This Shaymin was, obviously, a fair bit stronger than the one you fight in the games. Heck, the in-game Shaymin is so weak you'll probably have to break out a few weak pokemon or a pokemon with False Swipe just to weaken it since its only level 30. Though, attacks it resists, like Surf, could work too. Also, I've probably said it before, but I'll say it again just incase anyone is wondering. I like to give legendary pokemon their full level-up moveset, regardless of how strong I'm showing them to be.

On another note, this still takes place the same day as the last few chapters. Aside from when I've done tournaments and such, this is probably the most chapters a single day has lasted, largely because I'm shifting between perspectives so much. 4 days remain after this, but I think there's only two or three more chapters I want to write in those three days anyway...


	48. Chapter 47: A Fish Out of Water

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 47**

**A Fish Out of Water  
**

The day after Charon's attempt to hold Sinnoh for ransom, Melany and Dawn had moved to the route north of Jubilife where they would be training together. Though they had already started training the previous day, they eventually left for Jubilife so they could train in the open fields around the city. Rina departed from the group early in the morning from there and continued north to find a pokemon for Dawn.

That same morning, Melany and Dawn were out bright and early to start their training. Dawn had grabbed her newer pokemon prior and, now that they were out in the field, she released them from their pokeballs so the three of them were all standing side by side. Lined up facing the trainers, the first from the left was nosepass, a statue-like pokemon in the shape of a face. Next was a cranidos, a two-legged lizard with a rather thick skull. Finally, on the right, a lumineon, a fish pokemon whose fins made it look almost like a butterfly from the front.

"Yeah, these guys are all fairly tough, but they're still going to need a fair bit of work to catch up with the rest of your pokemon, Dawn," Melany said after observing Dawn's new pokemon. "The cranidos has a lot of physical attack power, so as long as you can get it evolved the difference between it and the rest of your pokemon probably won't even be noticeable. The lumineon you'll have to work out a way for it to fight and maneuver on land. The nosepass... it can take attacks decently well and I think it has an evolution similar to magneton, but that might not matter anyway."

"So... think it'll be worth the effort, then?" Dawn asked her, her gaze remaining focused on the three pokemon.

"Don't see why not," Melany replied.

"Still..." Dawn let out a sigh. "Seems like I'll be mostly working with these three... even though I have other pokemon to get up to speed or find special items for. I don't even know what 'shiny stone' looks like, aside from the obvious..."

"Worry about that later, I'm sure I know at least one place to get one if we're desparate," Melany said. "In the meantime, why not have the cranidos take shots at the nosepass as a warmup while you figure out some maneuvers with the lumineon."

"Alright," Dawn replied, nodding in agreement. She then began to issue orders to the three pokemon. "Cranidos, practice using headbutt on Nosepass. Chika, you'll be training with me so we can figure out ways to get around your inability to move on land." The cranidos didn't even acknowledge Dawn's command before suddenly running off and lining up a charge with the nosepass. Chika, sensing the danger she was in, pushed with her fins and managed to slowly push herself across the grass.

"I see you haven't thought up nicknames for those two yet," Melany said. The sound of rock hitting rock echoed through the air as one unnamed pokemon struck another. Melany watched the lumineon still struggling to push itself toward Dawn, then gave Dawn a questioning look. "But... Chika?"

"Well, she seems to like that nickname, and it'd be wrong to give her a new one since that nickname comes from her original trainer, right?" Dawn asked, then took out her pokedex. She wanted to take a good look at Chika's known attacks and see what she had to work with.

"True..." Melany replied, then tried to take a look at Dawn's pokedex. "Don't suppose she knows Surf by any chance?"

"Surf, Defog, Whirlpool, Waterfall..." Dawn said, listing off a few techniques. "They seem to stick out for some reason..."

"Utility techniques," Melany began to explain, pausing for a moment as the sound of another rock-on-rock collision was heard. After briefly surveying the scene, Melany continued. "Though some of them can be useful in battles, they're incredibly useful to have for travel. Surf creates a wave for the pokemon to ride, making it easier to carry or tow a passenger. Defog clears fog, Whirlpool can briefly disrupt a whirlpool if one was inconveniently in the way, and a pokemon can use Waterfall to climb straight up one. Though, because of the incline, it can still be hard to deal with..."

"So whoever owned her last was using her for non-battle utility..." Dawn mumbled, taking another quick look over the list. She let out a sigh. "Aside from those, Splash is the only technique she knows that's out of the ordinary for her..."

"That works," Melany said. Dawn's head snapped around to look at her in utter disbelief. "Splash is basically just hopping around. That gives her some basic mobility. Surf will give her a wave to ride, and you might even be able to do some water riding with Whirlpool and Waterfall for more maneuverability as well as using them to some degree in battle."

A silence fell between the two, during which another rock-on-rock collision was heard. Then, Dawn finally asked, "And Defog?"

Melany shrugged. "Some techniques just aren't that useful."

"Well..." Dawn was about to comment, but the sound of Cranidos landing another headbutt interrupted her. Both trainers looked toward the source of the sound and Dawn scratched her head. "Come to think of it... that nosepass has been pretty calm about all this. I didn't even tell it not to retalliate..."

Cranidos rammed into Nosepass from behind one more time while the girls watched. Though it was a powerful headbutt, Nosepass only shook slightly when Cranidos hit. Instead, it seemed like Cranidos was the one suffering the most as it backed off while shaking its head. Ramming into Nosepass over and over again was obviously hurting it in spite of its thick skull, but Nosepass was hardly bothered by it at all.

"-Why you no hurting from mine headbutt?-" Cranidos asked, though it wasn't quite looking at Nosepass when it did. Though, from Cranidos's perspective, it was looking at one of the two Nosepass at least.

"-Statues don't feel pain. I am a statue. Therefore, I don't feel pain,-" Nosepass explained simply. Cranidos tried to comprehend this, then suddenly fell over.

"Err... guess that's it for the cranidos for now, then..." Dawn said, then took a pokeball in each hand. "Alright you two, you might as well take a rest then," she said, recalling each of them. With the two rock pokemon taken care of, she then turned to Chika again. "Now, let's get started on teaching you how to move around on land..."

"-Oh, good! All this crawling around is hurting my stomach!-" Chika replied happily.

"While you're doing that, I'm going to take off for a bit," Melany said to Dawn. "You can do this much on your own, I'm sure, and I need to report to Professor Rowan about what happened in Canalave."

"Yeah, I'll be spending some time working on this anyway," Dawn replied.

Melany nodded. "I'll be back later to start actually training them, then." Melany then turned and headed toward Jubilife, leaving Dawn to train with her lumineon, Chika. Dawn folded her arms and put on her most serious face, an expression often reserved for the bonus boss battle.

"Okay, Chika, let's start by testing Surf. It's a powerful water-type technique in its own right, so it'll definitely be one we'll be using often in battle anyway. If we can use that for increased maneuverability, too, then we'll be ahead of the game when it comes time to face the gym leaders!" Chika nodded excitedly in agreement, her own expression looking about as serious and determined as a fish's face could get.

"Now, turn around so you're facing away from me, and use Surf," Dawn insutructed Chika. Chika wriggled around a bit to turn away from Dawn. Then, using her power over water, she summoned a wave up from the ground beneath her. The water rose up to about Dawn's height with Chika floating on top of it, then began to move forward across the grassy field. A damp trail was left through the grass as the wall of water moved over it.

"Hmm... try going in circles with it." Chika turned her body slightly and directed the water to move with her. Of course, it wasn't easy moving such a thing, thus she ended up making a fairly wide turn that resulted in her making circles that likely would have needed the entire width of a standard gym battlefield to perform.

"Surf seems pretty good for speed and power, but only in a straight line..." Dawn mused in contemplation. "Alright, move over here and turn away from me again, then dismiss the water." Chika followed Dawn's instructions, completing one final circle and stopping her wave a few feet in front of Dawn. The wave kept going toward Dawn's right after Chika hopped off, crashing down into the grass. Even though it wasn't aimed at her, Dawn was still splashed a bit by it. Chika then quickly turned herself around so she was facing away from Dawn again.

"That would have sucked if I wasn't dressed for snow..." Dawn said under her breath. Both her jacket and splash pants were, fortunately, waterproof. "Okay, now try moving with Waterfall."

A veil of water formed around Chika as she readied her attack. Then, she pushed off with her tail and shot forward as if she were swimming. The technique was giving her quite the rush of power for the duration of the attack, the kind of power that'd allow her to swim straight up a waterfall. As she moved forward, the grass she was moving across was torn up rather than simply getting wet.

"Okay! Stop!" Dawn called out to Chika. Without any target, she would have kept going until she hit something without Dawn telling her when to stop. Thus, at Dawn's command, she stopped rather suddenly and the water surrounding her quickly dispersed.

_Waterfall seems like it might be good for a sudden boost of speed, but only in a forward direction_, Dawn thought. _Seems like Surf is still the better option in general... but let's see what we can do with that last water technique._

"Next technique, Chika! Use Whirlpool and try to make a small one under yourself!" Dawn called out to her. Chika seemed hesitant at first, unsure if she could even do such a thing. Unsurprisingly, it turned out she couldn't. When she used the technique, she tried to focus the water under her, but it ended up in front of her instead. A small, swirling mass like a tornado made of water appeared, standing only a few feet tall.

"Good enough. Even if that's all you can manage, you can just hop into it," Dawn said to Chika. Chika nodded and gathered her strength for a quick hop, landing in the middle of the miniature whirlpool. It held her up surprisingly well, being narrow enough that she didn't fall inside. Instead, the water swirled against the underside of her body. Though, this also had the unfortunate effect of causing her to spin around on top of it as well.

Dawn's hand immediately went to her forehead. _This one's going to take some work_, she thought. The whirlpool Chika was riding dispersed before long, dropping a dizzy pokemon on the wet ground beneath her. _A LOT of work... but I think it'll be worth it. If she can ride a small whirlpool around, that'd give her a lot more maneuverability out of the water._

"Let's try this one more time and see if you can control it better," Dawn said to Chika. She was still too dizzy to respond, though, causing Dawn to let out a sigh. "Okay, take five, THEN we'll try again."

* * *

Meanwhile, near the Valley Windworks, Rina was also giving her pokemon a brief break. Though Knight had certainly flown much further before, she also wanted to check out the windworks herself. So while Knight was taking a brief break, Rina was watching the nearby wind turbines.

"Look at them spin... it really is windy in this valley, isn't it?" Rina said, though Knight offered no response. "I've never seen windmills before. It must be nice living somewhere like this, where power is generated completely by natural resources..."

"-Don't you humans usually use pokemon anyway?-" Knight mumbled lazily. "-Or do they not count as 'natural'?"

Rina thought about it for a moment and shrugged. "They're a natural resource too, I guess, but pokemon are usually only used to power a single building or a small area. Power plants are needed for big cities or to power an entire region."

"-Hmm... speaking of that, what method does that power plant use again? The one near Cerulean?-" Knight asked Rina.

"The new one they're working on uses nuclear fusion," Rina replied in a resentful tone. "If you ask me, something like that is way too dangerous to be using as a power source."

While Rina and Knight were talking, a hardhat-wearing electrician carrying a lunchbox emerged from the front door of the windworks with a lunchbox in hand. Hearing voices, he looked around and spotted Rina admiring the wind turbines and decided to go over and have a chat with her. "Hey there! Like the wind turbines, huh?"

Rina turned to the electrician and smiled. "Yes! We don't have anything like this back in Kanto!" she said. Knight just rolled his eyes, completely disinterested.

The electrician laughed. "Kanto? That's a long way to come to look at wind turbines!" He then sat down in the grass and popped open his lunch box. "So what brings you around here?"

"Helping a friend with a few things, actually," Rina replied. "Right now I'm supposed to be looking for an interesting pokemon to catch."

"Oh?" The electrician grinned. "You must be looking for the ghost pokemon that comes 'round here at night."

"Ghost pokemon?"

"Right, the ghost pokemon. Looks kinda like a balloon." The man made a motion with his hands to indicate something round. "They say these pokemon trick children into grabbing them with their deceptive appearance, then drag them down into the underworld!"

_There's no way that's true... right? _Rina nervously wondered.

The electrician pulled a sandwich out of his lunchbox and began to chowdown, but continued to speak in between mouthfuls. "I hear they're supposed to be pretty rare pokemon," he said to her. "If you were looking for something interesting to catch, I'd dare say they're a good option!"

_He does have a good point though_, Rina thought, nodding in agreement. _This sounds like an interesting pokemon to catch. I'll wait until tonight, then, and see for myself!_ Rina then turned to Knight and smiled, causing the dragon pokemon to let out a sigh. He had a pretty good idea of just what Rina was thinking. And that meant they'd be staying there quite a while longer yet.

* * *

A small, whirling mass of water formed before Chika, which the fish pokemon then jumped into. This time her aim was off and she landed on the edge of the whirlpool. The spinning action of the whirlpool pulled her around with it, then threw her off after she had spun 180 degrees. She hit the ground head first, leaving her momentarily dazed. The whirlpool dispersed shortly after she was tossed from it.

"You know, I'm thinking this might be harder than I or Melany originally thought," Dawn said after observing Chika's most recent failed attempt. "There has to be some trick to this... hmm... how about forming another whirlpool, but don't jump into it. I want to figure out a way to approach this thing..."

Chika slowly turned to Dawn and gave a slight nod of her head. Then Chika opened her mouth and shot a stream of water at the ground. The water that splashed up from the ground began to swirl like a tornado, eventually drawing up the rest of the water until a small whirpool had formed and remained spinning in place. Dawn walked over to the whirlpool to get a better look at it.

"Hmm... the water moves pretty fast, doesn't it?" Dawn mused. "Can you make it spin in the opposite direction?" she asked Chika. Chika nodded and the whirlpool began to disperse, splashing Dawn again. Dawn quickly stepped back as another whirlpool began to form from the water on the ground, this one spinning counter-clockwise as opposed to the clockwise direction every other whirlpool Chika formed up until then.

"That works," Dawn said, nodding. "Okay, now can you form a second whirlpool without destroying this one?" she asked Chika. "If you could make two whirlpools spinning at the same speeds but in opposite directions, you could probably balance on top of them without being thrown off."

Chika considered Dawn's request for a moment before trying it for herself. She opened her mouth and fired more water, aiming near the base of the first whirlpool. The water began to swirl and spin, forming into a second whirlpool spinning clockwise. As this new whirlpool began to form, the first whirlpool was slowing down. Eventually, it collapsed and brought the second whirlpool down with it.

"Guess that's a no..." Dawn muttered. She was sure she was on to something and such a complete failure was off-putting, to say the least. She wasn't about to give up yet, though. "What if you tried forming both whirlpools at the same time?"

Again, Chika spat out more water and began drawing up all the available water, attempting to form a pair of whirlpools that would be layered in such a way that she could safely ride on top of them. Unfortunately, this attempt had even less success. Rather than forming two whirlpools, no whirlpools formed at all. The forces trying to create the whirlpools spinning in opposite directions were simply negating each other.

Dawn scratched her head and muttered, "This doesn't look promising..."

Just then, Melany finally returned to the training area, riding on Skarmory's back. Skarmory quietly set down behind Dawn and Melany quickly dismounted. Melany realized almost immediately that something was up when she saw that Dawn had stopped training. "Something wrong?" she asked Dawn.

"We can't figure out how to use these Whirlpools..."

"She needs to swim in them," Melany explained. "Create a whirlpool big enough for her to be suspended in the center with her fins in the water. It'll take some practice to get it right, but she needs to move her fins in such a way that the spinning motion of the water pushes her up and down instead of spinning her around."

"Ehh!" Dawn looked at her in disbelief. "How did you know that?"

"Let's just say I know someone who's been practicing a similar move with her own pokemon," Melany replied tersely. "Anyway, like I said it'll take practice to get it right. You might want to get a potion or two ready." Hearing the mention of potions, Chika cringed. She already wasn't liking the sound of Melany's training.

* * *

Darkness eventually descended upon the Sinnoh region. By then, Dawn and Melany had decided to call it a day. For Rina, however, the night was still young. She had remained at the Valley Windworks all day, waiting for night so she may see the pokemon that was said to arrive at night. Even in the dead of night, when most of the workers had gone home, the wind turbines continued to spin.

And it was there, after night had arrived, that Rina continued to wait. One hour passed. Then two. She started to wonder if this pokemon would even show up. Three hours into the night, Rina was just about ready to give up and find somewhere to spend the night. Casting one last look to the sky, however, she found her patience rewarded.

"That must be the pokemon that guy was talking about!" Rina said to Knight and Pippi, both of whom had been waiting with her . In the air above them, drifting with the wind, several pokemon could be seen. It was hard to make them out against the darkened sky, but the yellow hands and markings on their faces gave them away. Most were small, purple balloons with string-like arms, though there were also a few that looked more like hot air balloons. As they neared the windworks, they began to descend.

"They really are just like balloons..." Rina whispered as she watched them land nearby. "I wonder what they come to the windworks for?"

While Rina was wondering this, one of the small ones managed to quietly float up from behind her. Neither Pippi nor Knight noticed it either and were thus unable to stop it as it reached out with its string-like arms, grabbing Rina by the hand with its yellow ends. Rina shrieked, startled by the pokemon grabbing her.

"-Come quietly to your doom, child...-" the pokemon said to her, then tried to drag her away. It got as far as the length of its arms. Rina wasn't budging.

"I'm not a child!" Rina yelled, grabbing the pokemon's arms and pulling it back toward her so she could punch it in the face. The ghost pokemon went incorporeal in response so her fist would pass through it, releasing Rina in the process. The pokemon seemed to lose interest at that point, though, as it floated away after becoming corporeal again.

"-Looks like they really do steal children away,-" Knight mused. "-Try to, anyway.-"

"-You're being awfully lax about that,-" Pippi said to Knight. Knight just shrugged in response.

"Well, let's catch one of these..." Rina said, looking toward the group gathered in front of the windworks. "One of the bigger ones, maybe? Let's go try to capture one, Pippi." Pippi nodded and followed Rina as she ran off toward the group of ghosts. Most of the ghost balloons floated away to ride the air currents again when they saw Rina coming.

"-Bored out of my skull...-" Knight grumbled, plopping down in the grass. "-If I'd known it'd be like this, I would have just went back in my 'ball...-"

"Umm... now how are we supposed to do this?" Rina wondered, stopping just barely over ten feet away from the group of pokemon. "I want to try negotiating... but no matter how I look at it I think it'd go over pretty badly if I said I wanted to catch it for someone else. And lying would be worse..."

"-Then let's do it like every other trainer does!-" Pippi suggested with a grin. Sparks shot out from her cheeks, anticipating Rina's response.

Rina sighed. "I don't think we have much choice... Go ahead, then. Pick one of the big ones and..."

Rina didn't even get to finish speaking before Pippi launched her attack. The group of ghost pokemon scattered when they saw Pippi launch a bolt of electricity in their direction. They were too slow, though, and Pippi managed to hit her intended target. One of the drifblim let out a ghostly wail as the bolt struck it, sending electricity coursing through its body.

"-They came... from... behind...-" the ghost pokemon groaned. Slowly it floated down to the ground, landing flat on its face. The rest of the pokemon quickly fled the scene, fearing they may be attacked as well.

"...attack..." Rina slapped her hand against her forehead. "You overdid it, Pippi..."

"-No I didn't!-" Pippi quickly shot back, pointing a paw at the ghost pokemon. "-See! It's getting up again!-" Sure enough, the wild ghost pokemon was slowly floating up into an upright position. It still looked dazed from the attack, but it was at least still conscious.

"Still think you overdid it..." Rina muttered, taking a pokeball out of her backpack. "Well, it's weakened now anyway, might as well finish this..." Rina threw the pokeball at the weakened drifblim just as it was turning to face them. The pokeball managed to hit it square in the yellow 'x' on its face, opening on contact and pulling the ghost pokemon inside. The pokeball dropped to the ground and began to shake as the pokemon tried to break free, then eventually stopped. It locked shut, then disappeared in a white flash.

"-See? That was no trouble at all!-" Pippi said, beaming.

"I feel kinda sorry for it..." Rina said. "Anyway, now we need to find somewhere to spend the night. Kinda late now to go meet up with Dawn and Melany again." As Rina turned around again, she saw Knight shooting her a glare. She realized why, of course.

"I know, I know!" she said to him. "If it helps any, I need you to fly me to Floaroma now?"

"-Yeah, yeah...-" Knight grumbled. He quickly stood up and turned his back to her. "-Hop on and let's go.-" Rina proceded to do so, as did Pippi. The three of them then took off, flying to the nearby town of Floaroma. Upon arrival, she would find there was nowhere for her to stay in the small town, and ended up spending the night in a tent outside in the gardens.

* * *

Author's Notes: Finally getting into some actual training for Dawn, which will likely continue at least into the next chapter.

On another note, nuclear fusion is actually a fairly safe method of generating electricity. One which we currently don't have the technology for. Nuclear fission, on the other hand... has a bit of a bad rap which it doesn't entirely deserve but is likely what people would think of if you mentioned nuclear fusion.

Only 3 days remaining now.


	49. Chapter 48: Not Very Effective

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 48**

**Not Very Effective**

"Chika! Whirlpool!" Dawn called out. Chika the lumineon fired a blast of water from her mouth which began to swirl around in the air, forming into a fairly short whirlpool. Chika then hopped up off the ground, diving into the whirlpool. By now she had a pretty good idea of what to do and angled her fins accordingly, resulting in the fish pokemon repeatedly bobbing up and down in the whirlpool.

"Good job! Now, move forward!" The whirling mass of water tilted forward slightly at Chika's direction, causing it to move straight ahead. "Back!" The whirlpool came to a stop and then leaned back, moving into reverse. "Right!" The whirlpool stopped again and this time leaned to the left, moving in that direction.

"That was left," Melany noted. "Other than that, though, she's doing pretty good. A bit more practice and she shouldn't run into any problems with it."

Dawn nodded. "That's good to know. I already know which gym leader I want to use her against."

"And it was only a one-potion job!" Melany said with a grin. Dawn nearly fell over and Chika dropped as her whirlpool suddenly dispersed.

_Just what the heck is with her training methods!_ Dawn wondered, grimacing when she imagined what it must be like for Melany's own pokemon if she was so reliant on potions.

It was early morning the day after Dawn's initial attempts at training. Dawn and Melany were already getting started on the day's training, knowing they only had three days remaining until Dawn was to meet Cynthia. For that reason, they had to cram in as much training as they could before then. Dawn still had other issues to deal with before then, too, afterall.

"Anyway, which would you rather do next? Go look for this Marcus guy so your pokemon can learn a few new techniques or start training with what you have already?" Melany asked Dawn.

"I want to keep training for now," Dawn replied. "Rina's catching a pokemon to trade to me for the nosepass, right? I'll wait until she gets back before going after Marcus. Until then..." Dawn looked back toward Chika, who was now laying out on the grass awaiting further instructions. "I think I'd like to have Chika train against Auriga..."

"Auriga huh..." Melany mused, then shrugged. "Alright then, how about I take command of Auriga and you command Chika? That way they're both battling on an equal level."

Dawn turned and raised an eyebrow at Melany. "We're equals now?"

Melany grinned and said, "Sure, why not? You smashed up a legendary pokemon on your own. I think that makes you a legendary trainer in your own right, right?"

"W-w-w-WHAT!" Dawn shrieked at the revealation and tumbled back, landing on her ass. "Y-you're kidding right! I mean, sure, I'm pretty amazed I pulled that off too, and I've got Mesprit with me, but..."

"And you're getting ready to mop the floor with Sinnoh's finest," Melany said, pointing a finger at her. "If you ask me, you're plenty qualified to say you're at least close to the same level as me even if not already there. Heck me, Rina, and Ashley are all looking forward to seeing how your challenge goes and not one of us are expecting you to actually lose to any of the gym leaders."

Dawn didn't know what to say to that. Sure, she realized she had come far as a trainer, but she still didn't expect people like Melany and Ashley to be praising her! It was a bit embarassing to say the least. It was also one heck of a confidence boost.

"Umm... thanks..." Dawn eventually replied. She stood up and dusted herself off, then turned to Melany again and smiled. "Well! If that's the case, let's do this! Me against you! You with Auriga, me with Chika!" Dawn took a pokeball from her belt and tossed it to Melany. "Just don't think too deeply on it when you lose, since I have the advantage."

"Of course not," Melany replied with a knowing smirk. The two girls then got into position, facing each other at a distance. Chika hopped along the grass to position herself in front of Dawn and Melany released Auriga from its pokeball. The cranidos was confused at first, but Dawn explained to it that it would be taking orders from Melany for this battle.

"Before we begin, Dawn, I would just like to say something," Melany said. Dawn nodded, giving Melany her full attention. "Auriga's best attacks right now are Take Down and Headbutt, would you agree?"

"Well, yeah..." Dawn replied. "Aside from Ancientpower, the rest are situational. And Ancientpower is a spell, but Auriga is a warrior. An Ancientpower attack from him would be pretty weak."

"-I'm a cranidos,-" Auriga corrected her. Of course, Dawn didn't understand a word he was saying.

"Why do you bring that up, anyway?" Dawn asked her.

Melany smirked. "Because I just wanted to let you know that the only attack Auriga will even use... is Ancientpower."

Dawn cringed at that. _Somehow, I just got a feeling like she just told me she's going to beat me with one arm tied behind her back_, Dawn thought. She quickly brushed that thought aside, though. Melany was using Dawn's own pokemon, so there were no tricks she could pull on Dawn, and Dawn knew she had both a power and type advantage. Her confidence returning, Dawn quickly called out an attack.

"Chika, you know the drill now! Start with Whirlpool!" Chika nodded in response and then opened her small mouth. She started spewing out a steady stream of water which splashed against the ground, then rose up and began swirling to form a small whirlpool. Chika then jumped up into that whirlpool and positioned her fins so the motion of the water would move her up and down instead of spinning her around.

"Auriga, Ancientpower." Melany commanded while folding her arms. Auriga let out a roar and stomped its foot against the ground as it summoned an ancient power from within. The awakening of this power tore several large chunks of rock from the ground, which were then thrown at Chika with great force. The rocks pelted her, knocking her off balance. She tilted vertically and was then tossed out the side of her own whirlpool, which immediately collapsed.

"Tch... nice move..." Dawn muttered. "Well if that won't work, we'll try Surf instead!" she then called out. Chika quickly turned to face Auriga and summoned a wall of water from underneath her, rising up on it. The wave then sped toward Auriga with Chika riding on top of it.

"Auriga... Ancientpower." Melany calmly ordered Dawn's pokemon. Auriga let out another roar, calling upon that power within it again. That power awakened more quickly now that the technique had already been used once. Large rocks were torn up from the ground and launched at Chika, striking her with enough force to knock her off the wave she was riding. Without Chika, the water crashed too soon and just narrowly missed hitting Auriga.

"Oh, come on!" Dawn groaned. "There's no way that had attack was powerful enough to knock Chika off!"

"No point complaining about something that already happened," Melany replied. "It's not like you're out of options yet, right?"

"Of course not!" Dawn shot back. "Chika, we still have one more technique for getting around! Let's show her! Waterfall!" Chika gave an enthusiastic nod in agreement. She formed a veil of flowing water around her body and then slid across the field, riding on top of it to speed toward Auriga.

_Can't counter that technique so easily_, Melany thought. "Auriga, brace yourself, then fire back with Ancientpower!" Auriga had little time to brace himself against Chika's attack. Sliding across the field on a veil of water, Chika plowed into him, knocking him off his feet while the water ran across its rocky hide. Chika dispersed the water after sliding past him and came to a stop, while Auriga was knocked onto his side.

Though it was difficult for Auriga to do so, courtesy of its short arms, Auriga was able to flip back onto its feet and turned to face Chika. Auriga drew out his ancient power again, the release tearing several chunks of rock free from the ground. By this point in the battle, the once grassy field was potmarked with holes from Auriga's attacks. The rocks floating around Auriga were then launched at Chika. Chika winced in pain as the rocks bounced off her body, which was now covered in small scrapes and scratches that were leaving her fairly exhausted.

"Again with that technique... but she DID say that was the only one she would use," Dawn muttered. "I can kinda see why, too. It's not because she's holding back, Ancientpower is the only ranged attack Auriga knows. She's been using that to disrupt my own attacks." Dawn looked at the two pokemon and smirked. Both were looking exhausted now, and after just one attack in Auriga's case. No matter how she looked at it, she would win now in spite of Melany's strategy.

"Chika, one more attack should do it! Water Pulse!"

"Don't be so sure your attack will be the last!" Melany called back. "Auriga, we'll be the ones finishing this! Ancientpower!"

The two pokemon went on the attack, with Chika making the first move. She opened her mouth and fired three pulsating rings of water at Auriga. By the time the rings had reached him, Auriga had finished summoning its ancient power again. Rocks were torn from the ground by this release of power and hurled toward Chika. The water that hit Auriga knocked him off his feet and Chika slumped forward after the rocks hit her in the head.

"So... a draw then..." Dawn mumbled. Then, to her utter disbelief, Auriga started to get back on his feet. "WHAT! No way! There's no way Auriga could have endured THAT!"

"Oh, but there is," Melany said with a knowing smirk. "Seems you're forgetting something about Ancientpower. Sometimes, when a pokemon uses it, some of that awakened power manages to remain to give them an increase to all their abilities. I was counting on that from the start to win this match."

Dawn sighed in frustration. "So I've really lost to my own pokemon... and with a type advantage..."

"Well, don't you think you learn more from your mistakes than your successes?" Melany said to her.

"I guess you're right," Dawn replied. She knew Roark had at least a cranidos, so it was good to know she couldn't count on Roark sticking to charging recklessly. She realized now that someone on Roark's level would definitely have ranged attacks available and would use them if a direct assault was too risky. Even for a pokemon whose best tactic involved smashing headfirst into its opponent.

After their battle, Dawn and Melany cleaned up the area a bit, replacing the dirt and rocks that had been torn up by Auriga's attacks. Though the spots were still bare, there weren't any holes for anyone to trip in at least. By the time they were done, Dawn spotted a shadowy figure flying through the air. As the figure drew closer, Dawn realized who it was.

"Rina's back," Dawn pointed out to Melany. Melany looked toward the pokemon that was flying toward them and nodded. The two of them waited while Rina flew in on Knight and landed nearby.

"I didn't think you two would still be here," Rina said as she approached them. "How's the training going?"

"Umm..." Dawn looked to Melany for an assessment.

"She's learning," Melany began. "She has a better idea of what to expect from the gym leaders, and she's able to use her lumineon, Chika, out of water now. So, making progress at least."

"I see..." Rina replied, then flashed Dawn a nervous smile. "I hope she wasn't too hard on your pokemon..."

"Used up one potion," Dawn replied. Rina cringed.

"What? I thought that was pretty good, to only need one," Melany said defensively. This time both girls cringed. "Anyway! You're back pretty soon, found a pokemon already?"

"Yep!" Rina took a pokeball from her belt. "Brought it with me so Dawn could see it first and then decide for herself whether or not she wanted it." Rina then held out the pokeball, releasing the drifblim she had caught. A ghost-type pokemon with a body shaped like a hot air balloon materialized and then looked around in confusion.

"-Where... AM I?-"

"That's an odd pokemon..." Melany said as she studied it. "Looks like it'd be a ghost-type and... flying maybe? Probably has a fair bit of endurance, at least, which is good because I can't imagine it being able to take hits very well..."

"-Huh?-" Drifblim turned to Melany in confusion. "-Am I being judged or something?-"

"That's a drifblim, I've heard of those," Dawn said. The drifblim turned to her now as she spoke. "They kinda 'pop' when they feint and their pre-evolved forms are believed to abduct children..."

The drifblim grinned at that. Or at least, as much as something could grin with only eyes for facial expresions. "-Oh, heh, yeah... good times...-" it said.

_I guess some species of pokemon really are dangerous_, Rina thought. A shiver ran down her spine as she recalled her own experience with a ghost pokemon. _Maybe more common for some species..._

"It would be interesting to have a ghost-type pokemon, though, since I already have Auriga for a rock-type," Dawn said, then nodded. "Okay, you want to do the trade now, then, and get it over with?"

"Sure," Rina replied, nodding in agreement.

"-Wait! I'm being traded al-" The drifblim was suddenly cut off as a red beam struck it, de-materializing it and pulling it back into the pokeball in Rina's hand. The three girls then started heading into Jubilife, Dawn leading the way and Rina and Melany walking side by side behind her.

"I'm surprised you actually caught a pokemon just to trade it away so quickly," Melany said to Rina as they walked. "Did it agree to go along with that?"

"I battled it and caught it, so it's not going to have any attachment to me and I didn't have to try to find one that would go along with something like this," Rina replied. "It was pretty easy to do, too, 'cause Pippi just kinda jumped straight into battle with it."

"I see..." Melany replied. She was silent for a moment before then asking, "So did it try to abduct you?" Rina fell completely silent at that.

* * *

The girls headed straight to the pokemon center in Jubilife, where Dawn and Rina made the trade in the upstairs trade room. Putting their pokeballs through the machines changed the identification tags on the balls, thus registering the recently captured drifblim to Dawn and the nosepass to Rina. Both still displayed their original trainer's id if one were to check, but officially they were registered to their new trainers now.

Of course, after making the trade there wasn't much left to do in Jubilife as Dawn wanted to try teaching her pokemon new techniques first. That meant finding Marcus, a task easily solved thanks to the website, a quick look told her he was in Eterna City again. It also meant going home to pick up all the shards she had gathered. She needed them for payment, afterall.

Thus, after the girls departed from Jubilife, the next stop was Twinleaf. Though Twinleaf was a relatively short distance away, they flew rather than walking as they still had a lot of ground to cover after. After landing in front of the house, Dawn dismounted from Captain Falcon and released Jax from his pokeball to follow her inside.

"Hi Mom I'm here to get my stuff!" Dawn called out as she walked through the main hall toward the stairs. She didn't even check to see if her mother was home, or where she was. In fact, her mother didn't even notice Dawn's arrival as she was in the back tending to a small berry garden with her kangaskhan, Jumpy.

Jax followed Dawn up the stairs and into her room, where he grabbed the makeshift box of shards in his four arms. Dawn then headed back down the stairs, Jax following behind her again. "Okay I got my stuff now bye Mom!" Dawn called out again, heading straight out the front door with her pokemon and shards. Joanne was still oblivious to her daughter's arrival and would later be wondering why there were muddy footprints all over the house.

Back outside, Melany and Rina were still waiting for her. Rina was waiting with Knight and Melany with a somewhat crablike, steel-type pokemon known as metagross. Looking at it, Dawn didn't think the pokemon would be able to fly at all. However, Melany had assured her that it would be able to carry both Melany and the box of shards on its back with no problems. Dawn thus directed Jax to set the box down on the pokemon's back.

"Wow, you really DO have a lot of shards!" Melany said when she looked into the box.

"Probably more than I need, but there's enough for the techniques I want to teach my pokemon at least," Dawn said to her, grinning slightly. "I spent a lot of time underground digging these up. It's pretty neat down there. Burried treasure in every wall, secret bases, and dwarves!"

"Dwarves?" Melany and Rina both asked in confusion.

"Yeah, you know, dwarves. Stout, somewhat chubby-looking race of people living underground. Though I always figured they'd be shorter and have beards..."

"Dawn... there's no such thing as dwarves..." Melany said to her.

"You know what she's talking about?" Rina asked her in disbelief.

"They're a fantasy race in some of the computer games I play. Usually known for drinking a lot and-"

"Wait a minute!" Dawn interrupted Melany, raising an eyebrow at her. "They make games for COMPUTERS now!"

Melany blinked. "Err... yeah..." she said. "There's been computer games for ages now. Heck, I've been playing them since before I even gave a thought to training pokemon."

"Didn't you start late?" Rina pointed out. Melany waved a hand, dismissing her comment. Rina shrugged and turned to Dawn. "Anyway, shouldn't we get going before this guy goes on the move again? We don't know how long he'll be in Eterna City for."

"Ah... right!" Dawn quickly nodded in agreement. "So, uh, Melany, you sure you'll be fine with your pokemon carrying my shards?"

"Of course!" Melany replied. "Just watch. Metagross?" Metagross let out a metallic groan, letting Melany know that it understood. A humming noise filled the air and then Metagross began to slowly float up. As it lifted off the ground, it spread its legs out straight. Dawn was amazed to see such a large, heavy pokemon hovering so easily.

"It'll be slow going..." Melany said to her. "But we'll make it."

"We'll just have to go slow then so you can keep up," Rina said.

Dawn nodded in agreement with Rina. If it meant her precious shards would get to Eterna City quickly and without losing any, she wouldn't mind moving a bit slow. Captain Falcon, overhearing them, grimaced a bit though. She'd prefer a fast flight. Knight, on the other hand, was just getting a bit grumpy over all the flying he was doing for Rina lately. Still, he offered no complaints as Rina hopped on his back again.

Once both Dawn and Rina were mounted on their pokemon, Melany and Metagross floated up higher. Then they turned and started to fly in the direction of Eterna City. Slowly at first, but gradually picking up speed. Once Melany and Metagross were well on their way, Dawn and Rina took off after them on their own pokemon. Catching up with Melany was no problem for them, and they kept pace with her for the duration of the flight.

* * *

It took well over an hour for the girls to reach Eterna City. Though flying there was much faster than travelling on foot, Melany's Metagross was slow flying even when it wasn't carrying precious cargo. The even slower fly speed than usual that it maintained for the whole trip made things take much longer.

Even when they arrived in Eterna City, they weren't done yet. Though a quick check at the computer in the local pokemon center confirmed Marcus was still there, they still had to find him. Melany and Rina waited with their pokemon near the western edge of the city while Dawn tracked down Marcus. Though it would have been faster with Melany and Rina's help, neither of them knew who they were looking for.

Nearly two hours after departing from Twinleaf, the girls finally met up with Marcus. Needless to say, Rina and Melany were surprised to find they DID recognize the boy walking toward them with Dawn.

"Melany... that guy with Dawn... didn't we run into him before?"

"Yeah. He called you flat." Rina cringed. She could remember that now. A complete stranger at the time, Marcus gave her one look and told her she was too flat.

And it seemed like Marcus might have recognized the two girls as well. He suddenly stopped when he saw them and stared at the two while stroking his chin. He even took off his sunglasses to get a better look. Then he shook his head and turned to Dawn. "Sorry, but even if they were stacked I don't work that way," he said to her, then turned to leave. Melany and Rina were stunned, and Dawn quickly turned and grabbed him by the back of his shirt.

"I already told you I've got the shards!" she said to him. "Geez! Why would you even think something like that!"

Marcus stopped and threw up his hands. "Alright, alright, I get it already!" he said, then followed Dawn as she pulled him by the shirt toward the box of shards.

"Is this guy really a move tutor?" Rina asked Melany, whispering.

"You know what they say, never judge a book by its cover," Melany whispered back.

Marcus took one look inside the box that was on Metagross's back and grinned. "Alright! Looks like you've got the goods afterall," he said. "Got a list of techniques you want taught to your pokemon, then?" Dawn nodded and took out a small slip of paper with writing on both sides, then handed it to Marcus. Marcus took one quick look over the paper. Then he took another look in the box.

"Hmm... everything adds up." Marcus grinned and slid his glasses back on his face, then turned to Dawn. "Alright! Looks like you've got yourself a move tutor!"

* * *

Author's Notes: Sorry about the lateness with this one, keep getting distracted lately.

Two more chapters left before Dawn begins her gym leader challenge. Next chapter will focus on more actual training, as well as Dawn's pokemon learning new moves courtesy of Marcus.

When the actual challenge begins I'm hoping to mix in a fair bit of character development with the actual battles. Small side events/stories to go along with them, basically.


	50. Chapter 49: Training and Tutoring

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 49**

**Training and Tutoring**

Bahamut, Dawn's garchomp, let out a mighty roar as he leapt straight up into the air.

"-**A TORRENT OF EMOTIONS FLOW THROUGH ME!**-" he cried out as a swirling mass of water surrounded his tail. "-Can you handle it? **TAKE THIS! THE OVERWHELMING FLOW OF BATTLE! AQUA TAIL!**-" Showing a surprising amount of aerial maneuverability, Bahamut suddenly flipped around and shot straight toward the ground. He curled up into a ball and started spinning around, giving the impression of a giant water wheel barreling toward the ground.

As he approached the ground, Bahamut then quickly uncurled and slammed his tail into the ground. The water around his tail shot out in a wave, rising up and towering over Bahamut's target. The wave crashed down on his opponent, washing the lizard pokemon out of its sight.

"-I believe this technique suits me well,-" Bahamut said, a wide grin plastered across his face.

"-That was pretty good,-" a pokemon's voice said from behind him. "-There's just one problem.-"

"-Problem!-" Bahamut growled and quickly turned around. "-And what problem is THAT!-"

In response, the green, lizard-like pokemon standing there brought one arm up toward Bahamut's face in an uppercut. A green energy blade shooting out from the pokemon's leaves slashed up along Bahamut's chest, and its fist slammed into his jaw. It was a surprisingly strong blow considering the pokemon it was coming from. The uppercut knocked Bahamut off his feet and stunned him briefly.

"-You missed,-" Sceptile said. Nearby, Melany was watching the exchange.

_Even though I kinda knew it all along, and I had seen her pokedex, I'm still surprised by the kind of power Dawn's pokemon seem to have_, Melany thought to herself. Already, Bahamut was getting back up and lashed out at Sceptile with his claws. _There's a noticeable difference in power between Dawn's newest pokemon and the ones she had been training all along. The others really will need the most training in the next few days._

_ Wow! Bahamut's gotten pretty powerful since the last time I saw him!_ Dawn's glaceon thought, watching the exchange between Bahamut and Sceptile. _I need to get strong too, then!_

"-SUBJECT: Jack Frost, it is ILL ADVISED that your attention be withdrawn from the battle at hand,-" a metallic voice droned. Jack Frost, the glaceon, turned and cast a glare toward the metal monstrosity that stood before it.

"-Oh, be quiet!-" Jack Frost shot back and stood with his back arched as if he was ready to pounce. "-Why don't you try this on for size, ya tin can!-" The fur on Jack Frost's body bristled and an incredibly cold wind blew past him, crystallizing water vapour in the air almost instantly. The cold wind washed over Metagross, causing the pokemon to flinch slightly. To Jack Frost's dismay, however, the attack had little effect.

"-Ineffective. You were instructed to use your recently tutored technique, but you have not,-" Metagross stated rather matter-of-factly. "-There will be no retalliation until the subject has properly executed his tutored technique.-"

The thought of taking advantage of that briefly crossed Jack's mind, but he quickly dismissed it. There was a reason he was to use that attack, afterall, as this was meant to be training for him. Though he had only been brought up to date recently, he was to understand that Dawn had a major competition coming up and wanted to have all her pokemon ready to go. For that reason, it was important to practice his new technique in battle.

"-You want to see my new technique? Alright then!-" Jack Frost focused his eyes on Metagross, taking aim at the dead center of the 'x' on the steel pokemon's face. "-TAKE THIS! Spiralling... signalling... umm...-" Jack Frost struggled to come up with something hotblooded to shout as he announced his attack. He briefly wondered how Bahamut managed to do it everytime, and on a whim no less!

"-Aw, screw it! SIGNAL BEAM!-" Jack Frost's forehead shone briefly, then fired a spiralling, multi-color laser from it. The laser scored a direct hit at the exact spot Jack was aiming, hitting the center of the 'x' on Metagross's face. It didn't occur to Jack that the metal band forming the 'x' would provide extra protection, but it made little difference anyway. Metagross barely flinched.

"-Demonstration was adequate. Now commencing retalliation.-" Jack Frost stared in utter shock as Metagross, seemingly unphazed by his attack, floated off the ground and spread out its legs so its body was completely flattened. Then, with one leg held straight out in front of it, Metagross shot toward Jack Frost like a rocket.

"-Aw crap...-" Jack managed to get out before the inevitable impact. One second he saw Metagross's spiked limb barreling toward him, the next he was upside down and watching the ground rapidly passing underneath him as he soared backwards through the air. Soon, the ground turned to water, and Jack Frost splashed down next to a wooden bridge spanning that water. Moments later, he re-emerged, coughing and sputtering.

"HEY! Watch it!" Marcus called out indignantly from the bridge. "You're not the only ones trying to train around here!" he shouted. On that bridge with him were Conker the pachirisu, Ryu the lucario, and his own electric-type pokemon. It was a lion-like pokemon called luxray. The luxray wasn't actually on the bridge, however. It was floating over it. Ryu and Conker were trying to master a technique to do the same.

Dawn and Rina were also standing nearby on that same bridge, watching Marcus and the three pokemon. Pippi was finally out of her ball again and watching the tutoring with great interesting. Though she wasn't quite understanding the lesson, since it wasn't aimed at her, she was still making mental notes while watching Conker.

"Sorry, I didn't exactly expect that to happen," Melany called back, then shrugged. "But, hey, it's not like it hit you guys. I'm sure Metagross knew what it was doing."

"-There was approximately a 0.0% chance of the bridge being struck. Any possibility of such had been accounted for,-" Metagross said in agreement.

"Just watch it, alright?" Marcus replied, then turned his attention back to his two 'students'. "Alright, you two saw what Luxray did just now. Conker, try to match Luxray's charge. Ryu, since you can't manipulate electricity as well, try using your aura to boost your capability." The two pokemon nodded and closed their eyes, focusing. Static electricity began to fill the air around both pokemon, but especially around Conker.

Dawn's pokemon had been training hard since meeting up with Marcus. They had spent a better part of the day already training on route 205, just west of Eterna City. First her pokemon would learn a new technique from Marcus, for which Dawn would pay the appropriate shards. Then, her pokemon would train with Melany's, battling and practicing their newly learned technique. She had already switched around a few pokemon of the course of the day's training. Everyone was trying to move as quickly as they could, as the day of Dawn's challenge was fast approaching.

"I still can't get over how easily these pokemon can overcome gravity..." Rina said, her confused gaze fixated on the floating luxray. "It just learns this one technique and then suddenly... it can fly?"

Marcus grinned. "Maneuverability leaves something to be desired, but other than that it works perfectly. And it almost always catches people by surprise when the electric pokemon they're fighting takes to the air." Rina nodded slightly and turned her head to look at Pippi. She pictured Pippi flying through the air as if she were some kind of Superchu, zipping around and smashing things with a powerful Volt Tackle.

"It IS kinda odd to look at," Dawn said, interrupting Rina's thoughts. "But then again, that steel behemoth back there can fly..." Dawn jerked her thumb back, pointing at Metagross. "And Bahamut can apparently fly too, though I've never seen it..."

"Pokemon just generally don't seem to care what physics thinks," Marcus said to them. "And, hell, once you've seen a flying wailord, you've seen it all." Dawn and Rina's jaws instantly dropped.

"-This conversation of their's is rather... distracting, no?-" Ryu said indignantly. He was desparately trying to focus, guiding the aura around him while trying to draw out what electricity he could. Ryu had zero experience with electricity, though. Hearing no response, he opened one eye to look at Conker. The squirrel pokemon was shaking and grimacing in raw determination, but even Ryu could tell he was putting out far too much power. The air around Conker was starting to crackle.

"Whoa! Hey! Back it off a bit before you-" Marcus's warning was too little, too late. The electricity around Conker suddenly discharged. Between Ryu's metallic skeleton and his own attempts to focus electricity, the discharged electricity from Conker was drawn directly to him. Ryu let out a surprised yelp as a jolt went through his body and then he shot Conker a glare.

"-Sorry...-" Conker mumbled, turning away in embarassment.

"Went way overboard there, pal," Marcus said, waving his finger disapprovingly. "Feel out the current surrounding Luxray right now. That's how much electricity you need to put out to create a magnetic field that will allow you to levitate. In your case, probably even less. You need to work on controlling it better, too."

Conker nodded stiffly and closed his eyes again. The air buzzed with the static electricity his body was producing as he made another attempt at copying the technique Luxray was using. The technique was Magnet Rise. By generating a magnetic field around itself, an electric-type pokemon would be able to achieve a form of levitation. It was the same principle pokemon like metagross and magneton used to float around, though any electric-type pokemon was capable of learning it if they tried.

Of course, electric-type pokemon weren't the only pokemon that could learn this technique through training. Ryu attempting to learn it was evidence enough of this. With Conker returning to his training, Ryu deemed it safe to make another attempt himself. Sitting with his legs crossed and arms folded, Ryu closed his eyes and started to focus again. Static crackled in the air around Ryu, though to a lesser degree than it was around Conker.

Strangely enough, it was Ryu who first managed to use the technique correctly. As he continued his meditative pose, Ryu's body slowly began to rise. It was almost monk-like at first, the way he only rose slightly off the bridge. But then he rose higher. And higher. Before long, he was able to extend his body out into a standing position without losing any altitude or focus.

Ryu exhaled and finally opened his eyes, a smirk forming on his lips. "-I've learned Magnet Rise.-"

"-About time one of you did,-" Luxray growled irritably. Floating in place for so long was starting to get to it.

"Ah, our first graduate from Luxray's School of Magnet Rise!" Marcus said, grinning. He then turned his gaze to Conker, who was still struggling to master the technique. Try as he might, Conker couldn't seem to generate a strong enough magnetic field around himself. Marcus tapped his chin for a moment as he analyzed the situation, then suddenly snapped his fingers.

"Conker, are you checking Luxray's technique before starting or after?" Marcus asked him. Conker stopped and looked at Marcus with his head tilted to the side. "If you're trying to mimic the technique before gauging the power Luxray is putting into it, your own electricity is probably affecting your judgement. Try to get the technique down before you start."

Conker nodded determinedly. He looked up at Luxray, studying the pokemon's electrical output. Luxray was shaking a bit. Floating in place for so long was taking a toll on it. Fortunately, it wouldn't have to stay that way much longer. This time, when Conker focused and the air crackled with electricity, Conker began to slowly rise. Within seconds he was level with Ryu and finally opened his eyes so he could turn to the other pokemon and grin.

Marcus grinned and reached up to adjust his glasses slightly. "Alright, that's another two taught. Why don't you two try some aerial jousting?" Conker and Ryu nodded and then flew off over the water. The two then parted, distancing themselves before flying toward each other at high speed and colliding. Despite the method they were using to fly, they were fairly fast and maneuverable. Moreso than Melany's Metagross, at least.

"That worked out pretty well!" Rina said, smiling brightly.

"I don't know..." Dawn said, not entirely convinced. There was something about the way Ryu in particular flew that was bothering her. Arms at his side, electricity producing a yellow aura around him. Dawn was sure she had seen something like that before...

"Luxray, you're done for now," Marcus said. He recalled his pokemon and then turned to Dawn. "Alright, who's next and what technique?"

"Jax," Dawn replied, then took out the pokeball and released Jax. The four-armed fighting pokemon appeared with a wide grin plastered across his face. "Could you teach him Thunderpunch?"

"Sure," Marcus replied, then reached for a purple and white pokeball on his belt. There wasn't a single trainer that didn't recognize that pokeball. It was the rare and coveted Master Ball. "I'll just get Ursaring out to teach him that..."

Rina eyed the Master Ball in shock. _Did he just say ursaring!_ She thought, then quickly shook her head and tried to calm down. _No, there's no point getting worried over this. I mean, it's a big world, right? Someone else out there probably caught an ursaring like that too... Marcus just happens to be that someone..._

"Ursaring! Let's go!" Marcus called out, turning away from the girls and releasing Ursaring from its pokeball. The bear pokemon emerged with its back to the trainers at first. When it turned around to face them, Rina instantly recognized it. Even though it was sometimes hard to tell one pokemon apart from another if they were the same species, the look this ursaring had in its eyes was all too familiar to her.

The familiarity only increased when the ursaring recognized her in turn. The bear pokemon already had a permanently pissed look in its eyes. But now, upon seeing Rina, that look changed from merely pissed to a look of bloodthirsty rage. Letting out a ferocious roar, Ursaring suddenly charged across the bridge toward Rina.

"What the hell! URSARING!" Marcus yelled at it, but barely avoided a swipe from Ursaring's paws as it rushed past him.

The sight of the charging ursaring, and the realization that it was the same ursaring she had caught in a panic, left Rina frozen in fear. "N-no way... it really is..." she uttered under her breath. Pippi was quick to act, moving in front of her trainer and charging her body with electricity. The pokemon that would intercept the enraged pokemon, however, was Jax.

"-HEY! Cool it, pal!-" Jax yelled as he put himself between Ursaring and the girls. Ursaring, of course, didn't listen. It lashed out with one clawed hand, aiming to swipe Jax to the side to remove the fighting pokemon from its path. Jax was ready for this and grabbed Ursaring's arm with both his left hands. Ursaring snarled and tried the same with its second hand, but Jax grabbed that one too. By the time Ursaring tried kicking, it suddenly disappeared in a flash.

"Well THAT was unexpected," Marcus said, returning the pokeball to his belt. He then turned to Rina, his sunglasses hiding an intense gaze. "Looks like you're his original trainer. You shouldn't try to catch a pokemon you can't handle, you know."

"I... I know that!" Rina replied indignantly. "But I didn't have a choice! If I didn't do something, it would have killed me!"

Marcus shrugged. "Whatever. Dawn, I'll need to take this lesson elsewhere, so what's next?"

"Ah... how about teaching Swift to..." Dawn quickly took out a pokeball and released the pokemon in question. "This one." The pokemon that had emerged floated around Dawn a bit, twin tails dragging behind it. It was none other than Dawn's legendary pokemon, Mesprit.

_That pokemon... I'm sure I've seen it before_, Marcus thought. "Well, if it's Swift, then it'll have to be this pokemon," Marcus said, then took a pokeball from his belt. The pokemon he released from that pokeball was a small canine pokemon that appeared holding its tail, the tip of which looked like a paintbrush.

"Smeargle, I want you to teach Swift to this pokemon here," Marcus instructed it, pointing toward Mesprit. Smeargle nodded and glared at Mesprit intensely, but no one but Mesprit seemed to notice it. "Jax, I'll need you to follow me so we can continue your lessons." Jax nodded and followed behind Marcus as he set off across the bridge.

"On that note, I guess I should switch my pokemon around a bit," Dawn said. As she turned to head across the bridge to where her pokemon were training, Jack Frost suddenly came skidding across the water next to the bridge and dropped in with a splash. This was followed shortly by Bahamut getting blasted back by a large yellow laser and splashing down in almost the same spot as Jack Frost.

"Oh, you two, good timing!" Dawn said as her two pokemon resurfaced. "That's enough training for now, I need to swap out pokemon."

"-Just... too powerful...-" Jack Frost groaned.

"-Tch...-" Bahamut pounded the water in a rage. "-Lucky shot... but I'll concede for now...-" Having no complaints, both of Dawn's pokemon were recalled and Dawn headed across the bridge.

"Switching up again? Those two still could have gone a bit longer," Melany said as Dawn passed by.

"That's okay, they looked like they had enough," Dawn replied nervously. "Anyway, even though there's still time left, somehow it feels like today is the most important day, so I'm going to go switch up for now."

Melany shrugged. "If you say so. I'll be waiting here when you get back, then," she said. Dawn then continued on her way and Melany turned her attention to Rina. Rina still seemed shaken after encountering Ursaring.

_Geez... what were the chances of that? Running into that ursaring again... _Melany wondered, then let out a sigh. _Who am I kidding? With the way things tend to go, it was pretty much guaranteed..._

Meanwhile, back on the bridge, Mesprit decided to finally introduce itself to Smeargle, even though the other pokemon was doing nothing but glaring at it.

"-Umm, hello!-" it said. "-I'm Mesprit and...-"

"-I know who you are, legendary pokemon,-" the smeargle said gruffly.

"-Umm...-" Mesprit blinked. "-Nice to meet you too?-"

"-You legendary pokemon think you're so special, think you're gods...-"

"-I... haven't claimed to be anything like that...-"

"-Hmph...-" Smeargle narrowed its eyes at Mesprit. "-Shall I explain to you, then, how this world came to be?-"

Mesprit shrugged. "-If it makes you feel any better...-"

"-This world was not created by any of you 'legendary pokemon', but by a being known as The Great Smeargle,-" Smeargle said tersely. "-The Great Smeargle was a smeargle of impossible size and two tails. One, the paintbrush, was the tail of creation. The other, an eraser, the tail of destruction. Thus The Great Smeargle could create or destroy anything. With these powers, it created a perfect world, and the first pokemon. Us smeargle. That's the short version.-"

"-Sounds interesting,-" Mesprit replied half-heartedly. "-So, can you teach me that technique now?-"

Smeargle snorted. "-Very well. Just keep that story in mind...-"

* * *

Meanwhile, just inside Eterna Forest, Marcus found some difficulty in teaching Thunderpunch to Jax. After the brief scuffle on the bridge, Ursaring had developed something of a grudge against Jax. Immediately upon releasing Ursaring from the Master Ball it began its assault against Jax.

"-Hey! Isn't that enough of this already!-" Jax said as he fended off another swipe from Ursaring. Ursaring just bellowed in rage and swiped at Jax with his other hand again.

"And here I thought I was done with this ursaring's bad attitude..." Marcus grumbled. "Guess I'll just have to improvise... HEY! URSARING!" he called out. The bear pokemon ignored him. "URSARING PAY ATTENTION TO ME OR I'LL SHOVE A QWILFISH UP YOUR ASS AND A CRAPLOAD OF REVIVAL HERBS DOWN YOUR THROAT!"

Both pokemon stopped and stared at Marcus when they heard him yelling this time. He definitely got their attention. Jax was shocked. Ursaring was glaring.

"Oh, hey, don't mind me," Marcus said, waving it off as if he didn't say anything. "Was just going to suggest you use Thunderpunch if you really wanted to beat this guy."

Ursaring turned to Jax and growled, then raised both his clawed hands. Electricity began to crackle around his claw-tipped fingers, which were then curled into a fist. He lashed out, aiming a blow at Jax with one electrically charged fist, then another. Jax remained on the defensive, using his four arms to block Ursaring's blows.

_Clever kid!_ Jax thought, grinning. _I'll just study how this guy's doing it while he's trying to take me out and learn it that way!_

* * *

By the time Dawn returned from Eterna City, she found the bridge had been all but abandoned. Smeargle and Mesprit had already completed their training. Smeargle now sat near the edge of the water with Pippi and Rina. Ryu, Conker, and Mesprit, on the other hand, were all now engaged in combat with one of Melany's pokemon. Gone were Metagross and Sceptile, now only a rather large, white golem pokemon stood to battle Dawn's pokemon. At first she thought Melany might be easing up a bit, but she could feel a tremendous aura radiating from the pokemon.

"-I can sense your aura, and it is quite powerful...-" Ryu said as he circled around behind the pokemon. "-But even the strongest of pokemon can still be toppled! Take this!-" Ryu cupped his hands together and gathered aura to them, forming it into a sphere. He then thrust his hands forward, launching the Aura Sphere at the pokemon from behind. It slammed into the pokemon's back, causing it to emit a low groan, but the pokemon remained standing.

_Wait... this thing's aura isn't just strong..._ Dawn thought, observing the battle from a distance. _At first it seemed as though its aura was slightly weaker than Registeel's... but it's getting stronger by the second!_

"-Aura, shmura! A jolt of electricity will finish this off!-" Conker shouted. He flew up and then came straight down from above the pokemon. Electricity surged around his body and then discharged in a forward wave, surrounding the large golem pokemon in static electricity. Again, it groaned in pain, but remained standing. After this attack, six gemstones set in the pokemon's chest suddenly glowed brightly.

_The rising aura... it stopped?_ Dawn thought in confusion. _But it's aura is so huge! A pokemon like this is on the level of... of..._ Dawn's eyes widened. _Giratina!_

"Looks like it's time..." Melany muttered to herself. Up until now she had been silently watching the battle, but had determined that now was the time to attack. "Regigigas! Attack both Ryu and Conker! Crush Grip!"

Regigigas's "eyes" flashed, acknowledging the command. It surprised Ryu and Conker with its speed, reaching back with its right hand to grab Ryu and reaching up with the left to grab Conker. Both pokemon cried out in pain as Regigigas began crushing them in its massive hands, then ended the attack by slamming both of them into the ground so hard it was leaving them both in craters. Neither pokemon was moving after.

"-Hehehe...-" the smeargle watching the scene snickered, a glint in his eye. The paint on the tip of his tail briefly glowed while Regigigas was using its signature move. "-Technique learned...-"

"-No way...-" Mesprit uttered in disbelief. "-Grr... take this, you monster!-" With a wave of its tails, Mesprit sent a barrage of star-shaped rays toward Regigigas. The stars homed in on it and managed to score a direct hit on the pokemon's face. To Mesprit's dismay, though, it was again still standing.

"Regigigas, again, Crush Grip," Melany commanded. Regigigas responded by jumping up to grab at Mesprit, who was floating just out of reach. Mesprit was snatched out of the air and Regigigas immediately began crushing it. The ground shook when Regigigas landed, its landing soon followed by its fist smashing into the ground while still clutching Mesprit. Finally, it released Mesprit, leaving the other legendary pokemon's broken form lying in a crater. To Melany's surprise, though, it soon began floating back up.

"Naturally," Melany said quietly. "In that case, we'll..."

"Mesprit, return!" Dawn called out, quickly recalling Mesprit before Melany could make another move. Blinking in confusion, Melany turned around to face her.

"Oh, you're back already?" she said, then flashed Dawn a smile. "Have those other pokemon you wanted to train, then?"

"Umm... well..." Dawn hesitantly looked toward the towering Regigigas, and then at her other two unconscious pokemon. "A-actually I think I'd like to wait for Marcus first..."

Though Melany's techniques were beginning to frighten Dawn, she knew she'd eventually have to train her pokemon against Dawn's again. The deadline was fast approaching. Only two days remained until her challenge.

* * *

Author's Notes: I think we covered a fair bit of ground in this particular chapter. Which is good, because the last chapter remaining before the challenge begins won't actually be training. Not specifically anyway. Instead, next chapter will find Dawn encountering an unexpected interruption on her way to catch the ferry...


	51. Chapter 50: Haunted Colosseum

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 50**

**Haunted Colosseum**

Dawn spent the remainder of the two days leading up to her challenge training. Before parting ways with Marcus, almost all of Dawn's pokemon had learned a new technique. After that, she resumed training, mostly with Melany though occassionally with Rina as well. Having decided Dawn's pokemon were strong enough to take it now, Melany made no effort to hold back during the training and exhausted Dawn's pokemon fairly quickly. Repeat trips to the nearest pokemon center became necessary.

Of course, fighting wasn't the only thing Dawn's pokemon had been doing during their training with Melany and Rina. They had also spent some time learning even more new techniques. Some techniques they learned from each other. Some techniques they learned from Melany and Rina's pokemon. Unfortunately, because she had yet to actually challenge the gym leaders, Dawn was sorely lacking in TM's. She had already used the ones she had obtained in Veilstone.

When the day of the challenge finally arrived, the girls got up early to get in some last minute training. There was no rush to get to Snowpoint in spite of the weather they would have to go through. Mostly because they had no intention of going through it. Instead, when the time to leave finally arrived, Melany called out her Alakazam and had it teleport all three of the girls directly to their destination.

The sudden appearance of Dawn, Rina, Melany, and Alakazam on the Snowpoint City waterfront would come as a huge surprise to the champion waiting there for them. They had appeared only a few feet away afterall.

"That's... umm..." Cynthia mumbled, blinking in confusion at the sudden arrivals. She forced a smile and folded her hands behind her. "That's quite the unexpected entrance you made, Dawn. I didn't expect Melany and Rina to be joining you."

"We've been training together, and they're going to be watching me now," Dawn explained. Cynthia nodded.

"Very well. Hurry on board the ferry, then." Cynthia started up the ramp, motioning for the girls to follow her. Dawn was the next one to go up, as the narrow ramp onto the ferry only had room for one girl at a time.

While Dawn was going up the ramp, something strange happened that would delay her challenge just a little bit longer. As she was walking, a vortex suddenly opened behind her. Dawn didn't notice the first vortex, but then a second vortex opened directly in front of her.

"What the!" Dawn shouted. A hand reached out from the second vortex, pushing her. Dawn stumbled back and fell into the vortex behind her. Cynthia turned around only to see the two vortexes wink out of existance.

"No! Dawn!" Cynthia cried out.

_Just what is that girl up to this time?_ Melany wondered. Another vortex suddenly opened in front of her and Rina. Both girls braced themselves, expecting the same thing, but instead a hand reached out and gave a note to Melany. Then, it withdrew and the vortex closed. Melany quickly read over the note.

"What was THAT all about?" Rina wondered aloud.

"Apparently 'nothing you need to concern yourselves with'," Melany replied, then walked up the ramp to hand the paper to Cynthia. "I think you should read this."

* * *

After falling into the vortex and landing flat on her back, Dawn bolted back onto her feet. She was rather annoyed now and quickly looked around for her attacker. Her annoyance quickly turned to confusion, though, when she saw where she had ended up.

The place Dawn found herself in was, unmistakably, the torn world where she had fought Giratina. The dark terrain, purple soil, and floating islands clued her in to that. Being in the torn world wasn't what had her confused, though. That much was pretty much expected, since she knew only one person who could attack her from a vortex.

No, what confused and baffled her was the surrounding architecture on the island she was on. She was in a large, circular stadium hewn from purple stone. Specifically, the design gave her the impression that she was in an ancient, Roman colosseum. She was pretty sure there shouldn't be anything like THAT in the torn world, and yet she was in it.

"Welcome," a girl's voice called out from the other side of the colosseum. Finally taking notice of her, Dawn quickly turned around. It was Dusk, as Dawn had expected. "I suppose you're wondering why I brought you here."

"To have me duke it out with wild pokemon with nothing but a sword, shield, and a chainmail bikini?"

"Why would you even... ah, right, the colosseum..." Dusk grinned and made an gesture out toward the structure. "What do you think? I was bored while you were busy training and decided to put this together."

"You built this?" Dawn blinked in disbelief. "HOW?"

"It's the strangest thing, but lately I've been able to exert more and more power over the Griseous Orb." Dusk opened her cloak and retrieved the orb. "At first I was just using it with the vortexes. So far I've been able to create enough large vortexes to be able to borrow the magnet train from Johto. Took four vortexes. Two to take it, two to return it."

"You... BORROWED a train..."

"After that, I decided to see if I could exert any power over the terrain here in the torn world. Turns out, I can alter it almost as much as Giratina could," Dusk continued. "Using that power, making a colosseum was nearly effortless."

Is it just me, or did Dusk go and become a god behind my back! Dawn thought. A realization struck her that caused her to grimace. Maybe she got those powers from a recently deceased god...

"I still don't know where Giratina disappeared to," Dusk said. Dawn wasn't about to voice her opinion on the matter. "But, in the meantime, it hardly matters. I have almost all of Giratina's power right here in this orb."

"Great. I'm happy for you, really, but I'm sure you didn't drag me here just to gloat," Dawn said dryly.

"How right you are," Dusk replied. She tucked the orb back inside her cloak and then folded her arms. "But I think it should be pretty obvious why I would bring you to a place like this."

"Because you want me to wear a chainmail-"

"FOR A POKEMON BATTLE YOU MORON!" Dusk screamed at her. "If you want to wear a chainmail bikini then by all means, you won't hear me complain. But the reason I brought you here was because I recently obtained new pokemon and thus want a rematch."

Dawn narrowed her eyes at Dusk. "The way you mentioned the bikini just now was pretty suspicious..."

"You're the one who keeps bringing it up..." Dusk growled. "Forget about that already! Pokemon battle! Now! Call out your first pokemon!"

"Fine, fine!" Dawn replied, then took out a pokeball. "Kabula! I choose you!" The pokeball opened and out came Dawn's drifblim, which had received some training and a new nickname since she had received it.

Dusk blinked in disbelief at Dawn's choice of pokemon and shook her head. "And you're using a ghost-type pokemon against me... why?" she asked.

"Ghost-type pokemon are weak against ghost-type attacks!" Dawn replied smugly. "It's fighting fire with fire, only in this case it's ghosts!"

"I'm far more experienced with ghost-type pokemon than you, so that's a bad idea all around," Dusk said to her, then made a motion with her hand. "But if you insist... then I'll just have to show you some of my newest pokemon. Not all of them are ghosts, afterall." As Dusk spoke, a vortex opened over the battlefield and out came a tall, green pokemon that looked like a cross between a cactus and a scarecrow.

_So she's actually branched out a bit from just using ghosts, huh?_ Dawn thought, a smirk crossing her lips. _But I can tell that one is a grass-type. So this works out even better for me!_

"Big mistake, Dusk! Kabula, use Air Cutter!" Dawn called out.

"I applaud you for recognizing it as a grass-type, but it's more than just that," Dusk said to her. "Stalker, use Sucker Punch!"

As Kabula began to whip up a torrent of air under it to attack with, Stalker, Dusk's cacturne, was suddenly upon it. Stalker caught Kabula completely offguard and slammed the end of its arm into Kabula's face. The blow sent Kabula spinning backwards through the air and dented its face. The dent popped back out when Kabula managed to stop itself.

"-Cheap shot...-" Kabula grumbled, then immediately returned to the task of forming a small whirlwind underneath it. From the whirlwind forming, a v-shaped blade of air suddenly shot out and stabbed into Stalker's body, knocking it back a bit.

This match-up isn't as favorable as I thought, another hit like that will finish Kabula for sure, Dawn thought. "Kabula, this isn't your battle afterall! Return!" Dawn held out Kabula's pokeball and pressed the button, recalling it. Returning that pokeball to her belt, she took another one in her hand to release her replacement pokemon.

"Elincia, go!" Dawn called out. From the pokeball, a large yellow and black pokemon with a beehive-like dress emerged. It didn't look too happy to be there, but Elincia would follow Dawn's orders.

"A bad match-up for me, now," Dusk said, then gestured toward Stalker. A vortex opened under Stalker, sending it off to another area of the Torn World. That vortex closed and then another open, from which another pokemon Dawn didn't recognize appeared. It looked like a chandelier of sorts with the lights replaced with ghostly, purple flames.

_Obviously some kind of fire-ghost,_ Dawn thought. _Even so, I'll keep Elincia out against it._ Dawn smirked to herself. _Because Elincia has a powerful weapon against Dusk's pokemon!_

"Burner, full power from the start! Overheat!" Dusk commanded. Burner, her fiery ghost pokemon, tilted forward then started to move toward Elincia. Heat began building up in its body, causing it to turn from purple to orange. Then, when it was only a few feet away, Burner unleashed that energy in a fiery explosion that engulfed Elincia completely. The blast knocked Elincia to the ground but, to Dusk's surprise, it took only a brief struggle before it was back in the air.

"Elincia, issue a Heal Order!" A loud buzzing noise filled the air as a small army of combee larvae emerged from the bottom of Elincia's body and swarmed around her. The larvae set about restoring the damage caused by Burner's attack and restoring Elincia's strength, then retreated back into her hive-like body.

"Hmm. Tougher than I thought it'd be." Dusk said, grinning to herself. "Well, it survived one, but I wonder if it restored enough of the damage to survive a second hit? Burner, use Overheat again!" This time, Burner didn't have to move, and started to glow bright orange on the spot. Heat continued to build within its body until finally exploding outward in a fiery burst. The flames caused no harm to Burner, though using such an attack was indeed putting a strain on Burner's power.

And apparently that power was going to waste. When the flames dispersed, Elincia was lying on her back. Again, however, she quickly rolled over and flapped her wings to float back up again. "Elincia, another Heal Order!" Dawn called out, quickly erasing Dusk's efforts as the swarm of combee larvae - which looked like more rounded, single-headed combee - emerged briefly and repaired the damages to Elincia.

_Damn! With Overheat weakening Burner with each use, Elincia's just going to gain the advantage!_ Dusk thought, snapping her fingers. She had hoped to show off her new pokemon's offensive power, but instead Dawn was showing off her bug pokemon's resiliency. _Time to switch tactics!_

"Burner, use Will-o-Wisp!" The purple fires of Burner's body suddenly lifted from its body and danced through the air as they made their way toward Elincia. The flames made contact with Elincia's body, inflicting a painful burn.

_That kinda sucks, but it does give us an opening!_ Dawn thought. "Elincia, Toxic!" Elincia opened her mouth and fired back, spitting a purple blob at the ghost pokemon. The substance made contact with Burner and sunk into its body, filling it with a powerful toxin.

"Since you can't put your pokemon in pokeballs, that poison will continue to drain your pokemon of its strength regardless of what you do!" Dawn said with a smug smirk on her face.

"Maybe I should seriously consider using them..." Dusk grumbled. "Well, we might as well keep it up now! Burner, use Curse!" Burner's eyes glowed and a dark cloud billowed out from it. That same dark cloud then surrounded Elincia as Burner cut its own life force and put a curse on her.

"Elincia, finish this! Power Gem!" Dawn called out quickly. Elincia raised her clawed hands to the gem on her forehead and aimed it toward Burner. A sparkling ray of light fired straight out from the gem, striking Burner hard and knocking it to the ground. With that move, Elincia scored the first knockout of the match. Dusk opened a vortex and Burner's unconscious form was pulled into it.

"So Burner went down... but your Elincia is as good as defeated as well," Dusk said to Dawn, then opened another vortex. From this one emerged a brown pokemon that stood upright. Its head was covered by a skull and in its hands it carried a rather large, thick bone like a club. "Mourner shall take advantage of this."

_She's right, Elincia won't hold on much longer. I'll make this next move count, then,_ Dawn thought. "Elincia, hit this one with Toxic, too!" she commanded.

Dusk paid no heed to Dawn as she issued her own command, completely disregarding a technique that was so crippling to her. "Mourner, Swords Dance." Mourner took its bone club in both hands and thrust it into the air as if it were a sword. A blue aura surrounded it, while at the same time a purple blob landed on its chest and poison seeped into its body. Mourner grimaced, forcing itself to ignore the pain while focusing its power. Elincia, meanwhile, fainted on the spot after using one last technique. Dawn immediately recalled her.

_I don't know what Dusk is planning with that pokemon, but whatever it is I can count on Bowser to handle it!_ Dawn thought as she drew another pokeball. "Bowser, I choose you!" The pokeball opened and, from it, the large tortoise pokemon emerged.

"Mourner, finish this one now! Double-Edge!" Mourner quickly charged forward when Bowser emerged and slammed head first into him. Bowser was able to move in time to avoid taking a blow to the head himself, but the power Mourner was putting into it drove Bowser back, eventually pushing him to the point where his legs gave out from under him. Despite throwing itself bodily into the attack, Mourner was then able to quickly hop back and distance itself from Bowser.

"-Damn it, that wasn't nice!-" Bowser growled. He grunted with the effort it took him to get back on his feet. Mourner's attack took a lot out of it. "-Attacking before I'm even ready... urgh!-" Bowser almost collapsed again as he tried to get up. A green glow surrounded its body and the tree on his back suddenly grew more leaves.

_Already?_ Dawn thought in disbelief. She quickly shook off her shock. "Bowser, we need to take this one out fast! Frenzy Plant!"

"-Got it!-" Bowser growled, summoning his strength. Thick, brown roots shot out from the base of the tree on his back and burrowed into the ground. They then rose up around Mourner, twisting around him until eventually it couldn't be seen within them. The roots squeezed tightly around Mourner, putting immense pressure on it. When the roots finally receded, Mourner's unconscious body dropped to the ground.

"Well, guess I should have expected it wouldn't be that easy," Dusk said, opening a vortex to withdraw Mourner. "But now your torterra is temporarily disabled. So I'll finish it with this..." Another vortex opened and from this one a bird pokemon resembling a totem pole appeared, standing perfectly stiff as if trying to resemble one.

Dawn frowned upon seeing the new arrival. _Another pokemon I don't recognize... has she been capturing pokemon from all around the world? And there's nothing I can do about it for now..._

"Seer, Psychic!" Seer's eyes flashed and Bowser was suddenly struck by a thrust of psychic power that hit with enough force to roll him onto his back. For Bowser, that was the end of the fight. Enduring Seer's attack drained the last of his strength, causing him to lose consciousness.

"I guess that couldn't be helped..." Dawn muttered as she recalled Bowser. She took another look at Dusk's pokemon, Seer, and considered her options before taking another pokeball from her belt. "Guess I'll be counting on this one, then." Dawn released her pokemon, the legendary pokemon Mesprit.

"Using Mesprit already?" Dusk smirked. "But you do realize Mesprit is a psychic-type, right? My pokemon will have the advantage. Seer, Ominous Wind!"

"But this one won't!" Dawn shot back. "Mesprit, use Ice Beam!"

Seer spread out its wings and began drawing out a cursed power that formed around it like a mist. It then sent that mist flowing toward Mesprit by flapping its wings, carrying the mist in strong gusts of wind. Mesprit, meanwhile, fired a blue bolt at Seer that froze into ice on the bird pokemon's body. Though it was too late to stop the cursed winds that briefly battered it, Mesprit's attack forced Seer to stop as its body froze over. When the ice shattered, Seer wobbled from side to side and nearly fell over.

_That attack dealt a powerful blow to Seer, one more hit like that and she's finished,_ Dusk thought. _Well, that's fine as long as she can get off one more attack._

"Seer, Tailwind!" Seer began flapping her wings again, this time drawing a strong wind from behind it that wouldn't come anywhere near Mesprit.

"Mesprit, finish this with another Ice Beam!" Mesprit focused and another beam launched out from the gem on its forehead. The beam struck Seer, instantly coating her with ice. Seer's movements stopped and she suddenly fell over, falling directly into a readied vortex.

"Suppose I, of all people, should have known better than to underestimate a legendary pokemon," Dusk said, then opened another vortex. "But it's fine, Seer still paved the way for my next pokemon. Walker." Another pokemon unfamiliar to Dawn appeared, this one looking unmistakably like a golem. However, Dawn could feel something strange from this golem. Almost as if it were possessed.

_Wonder what the odds are that this pokemon is similar to her rotom, a ghost possessing a physical object?_ Dawn thought. She nodded to herself and took a pokeball in hand. _I'm sure of it... this one IS a ghost!_

"Mesprit, that's enough for now, return!" Dawn called out, recalling Mesprit with one hand and then activating the pokeball in her other hand. "Assassin!" The pokeball opened and a scorpion pokemon with a long neck and an extendable tail and arms emerged.

"Assassin, go! Attack with Night Slash!"

"Not so fast! Walker, Earthquake!"

Assassin charged forward, claws raised, but Walker made the first move. It raised one leg and, pushed forward by the wind blowing at its back, stomped it hard on the ground to send a shockwave out toward Assassin. Assassin was briefly stopped in her tracks as the ground beneath her shook and cracked violently, eventually throwing her off her feet.

It was a powerful attack, but Assassin endured it and quickly got back up to continue toward the enemy. She closed the remaining distance and slashed across the front of the golem pokemon's body with both its claws in a flash, marking an 'x' across it. The pokemon staggered back, taking the hit harder than would be expected of its tough-looking body.

_Earthquake... could be a ground-type? But a lot of powerful pokemon can learn that technique, so I can't just assume that..._ Dawn quickly looked over both her pokemon and Dusk's. She could feel both their auras had weakened. _One more attack should do, though..._

"Assassin, once more! Night Slash!"

"Not so fast! Walker, Earthquake!"

Assassin raised her arms to make another attack, but Walker was still faster. The wind blowing from behind it pushed it forward into another Earthquake attack, slamming its foot down directly in front of Assassin. The resulting shockwave hit her with such force that she was knocked out instantly and her unconscious form was thrown back through the air. Dawn recalled her before she even hit the ground.

"Thought I'd get it first at that range... Kabula, your turn again!" Dawn took out a pokeball and quickly released Kabula again. "Kabula, Shadow Ball!" Kabula quickly gathered a ball of shadowstuff and launched the ball at Walker. It landed a direct hit on Walker's torso, almost knocking it over. However, it just barely managed to remain in the fight, ready to make its counterattack.

"Walker, Shadow Punch!" Dusk called out. Walker charged forward, still receiving a boost in its speed from the tailwind. As it closed the distance, it made a punch toward Kabula. Kabula recoiled as if it had been struck, even though Walker had yet to reach it. The last of Kabula's energy was drained, however it left rather explosively. The 'x' on its face burst open, releasing a blast of energy that struck Walker and finally knocked it off its feet. Both pokemon were recalled. Kabula had effectively achieved a double knockout.

"Then I guess it's back to this one..." Dusk said, opening a vortex to call Stalker back to the colosseum's battlefield.

_This is it then, down to two pokemon each_, Dawn thought as she took a pokeball from her belt. "Eggman, I choose you!" she then called out, releasing the fairy-like pokemon Eggman onto the battlefield.

"Eggman, begin the fight with Yawn!" Dawn commanded. Eggman nodded and let out a loud yawn, expelling a white gas from his mouth. The gas surrounded Stalker and it soon started feeling drowsy.

"Sleep is it... in that case we'll counter with Leech Seed!" Dusk called out. Stalker responded by flinging its arm out toward Eggman, throwing a seed at him that landed on his chest. The seed sprouted vines and latched onto him to begin siphoning away his energy.

"Even that isn't going to save you!" Dawn said to Dusk. "Eggman, use Heat Wave!" Eggman nodded and began flapping his tiny wings, preparing to attack.

"A fire-type attack!" Dusk growled. "Stalker, Sucker Punch!" Stalker quickly shot forward, seizing an opening in Eggman's attack to deliver a punch to the face. Eggman staggered back but quickly righted himself and continued flapping. An intensely hot wind began to blow over Stalker's body, eventually giving way to a wall of flames. While bathed in those flames, Stalker suddenly fell asleep. It still wasn't fainted, though.

_Even if I recalled Stalker now, it would just be fainted by an Ice Beam in its sleep if it had to face Mesprit_, Dusk thought, shaking her head sadly.

"Eggman, finish it now with another Heat Wave!" Eggman continued flapping his wings, sending more hot air and fire blowing toward Stalker. Eventually the scarecrow pokemon groaned in its sleep and collapsed, falling into a carefully placed vortex. Dusk was now down to her last pokemon.

"I guess this is it then..." Dusk muttered, opening another vortex. "Then come out! Mummifier!" Suddenly a pokemon that looked like a golden sarcophagus dropped down out of the vortex and landed lying flat on the ground. Then, it suddenly floated up and sprouted a pair of shadowy arms.

_What is with these pokemon she caught?_ Dawn wondered, then shook her head. "Nevermind. Eggman, we'll finish this one the same way! Yawn!"

"Not so fast! Mummifier, Protect!" Dusk called out quickly. The blue bubble that formed around Mummifier was able to keep out the gas that Eggman breathed out. However, with this, Dawn could only smirk. An easier patch to victory had presented itself.

"Nice move, Dusk. That deserves... an Encore!" Dawn called out, at which point Eggman started clapping. Dusk suddenly felt a feeling of impending doom as, in response to the clapping and the applause that erupted around the colosseum to accompany it, Mummifier maintained its protective bubble.

"That's kinda annoying... but doing that will still make it hard for you to attack," Dusk said to Dawn. Dawn responded by recalling Eggman and sending Mesprit back out. She was too excited to say anything as she did.

"Mesprit, time to deal the decisive blow! IMPRISON!" Dawn ordered, her excitement rising further as she called out the attack. Mesprit focused and a red aura surrounded both pokemon. The protective bubble around Mummifier, failing to protect against the technique in any way, immediately ceased. Whatever this new pokemon of Dusk's was, Dawn wasn't even giving it a chance to show off its abilities. It now couldn't do a thing but struggle helplessly. As the pokemon tried to throw itself at Mesprit and do just that, Dusk suddenly opened a vortex to recall it.

"I concede..." Dusk grumbled bitterly. "To think, that pokemon had such an amazing ability that I wanted to show off... but somehow I fell into the perfect trap."

"Ehehehe..." Dawn smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, what can I say? It just came together..."

"And for that reason, though I forfeit this match, I REFUSE to admit defeat!" Dusk growled, pointing a finger angrily at Dawn. "That it worked out like that was just luck! Even if I just had another pokemon remaining I could have thwarted that lockdown!"

"But you didn't," Dawn pointed out. "Anyway, mind sending me back now that you've gotten your battle? I have a boat to catch."

"Oh, there's no need for that," Dusk said, then extended a hand out toward Dawn. "As I already explained in a note I gave to Melany, you'll be taking a more direct route?" With a single gesture, Dusk opened a vortex under Dawn. Gravity did the rest. Dawn let out a shriek as she suddenly fell.

"-DAWN!-" Mesprit called out. It turned to glare at Dusk before diving in after her. Dusk then closed the vortex behind them.

"...She's still pretty good though," Dusk mumbled. "I wonder... could someone like her... go far enough to beat even Cynthia?"

* * *

Meanwhile, after falling into the vortex, Dawn found herself unceremoniously dumped into unfamiliar territory. Groaning, she slowly sat up and looked around. She seemed to be in a small town, but it wasn't one she was at all familiar with.

"Where... am I?" Dawn mumbled, blinking in confusion. Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Dawn looked up and saw Mesprit pointing at something. She followed Mesprit's direction to the building she was lying in front of, and then to the sign over the door.

"The Battleground?" she mumbled questioningly. "Is this... where I'm supposed to be?"

* * *

Author's Notes: Buncha new pokemon for Dusk this chapter, and I think this more or less marks off the final battle between Dawn and Dusk. As you can probably tell, three of Dusk's new pokemon were 5th gen. Though, after deciding on that, I realized I couldn't actually mention them by name or use 5th gen attacks since the names are Japanese and attack names might change. Don't think it really made any difference anyway...

So, show of hands, who saw that last part coming?


	52. Chapter 51: Roark Rerun

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 51**

**Roark Rerun**

"I have to say, I certainly wasn't expecting you to beat me here," Cynthia said to Dawn, who was sitting down in front of the Battleground's bar, then smiled. "I take it your battle with Dusk went well? Though it seems strange that she would abduct you for something like that..."

"I won, but it was pretty close for most of the fight. She was just looking to get back at me for beating her before I think," Dawn replied. She took a sip from her glass of soda, then set it down and took a look around. "But I never would have imagined a place like this even existed..."

The building Dawn now found herself in was known as the Battleground. It was essentially a private club for some of the strongest trainers around. Naturally, all the gym leaders and the Elite Four were members at the Battleground, and Cynthia had made arrangements for Dawn to be given a membership even before she had gotten there. She wouldn't have been allowed to battle there otherwise.

The Battleground was run by a single old man, currently working behind the bar. The bar carried all sorts of beverages and foods, apparently prepared in the kitchen by his family. A wooden door behind the bar connected it to the kitchen, but nothing could be seen beyond that door. The scent of something cooking occassionally wafted in from it though. The bar carried both alcholic and non-alcholic beverages and there was plenty of seating in the form of bar stools and tables lining the side of the club's main attraction.

The main attraction, of course, was the Battleground's indoor battlefield. The size of the battlefield was slightly larger than that of most gyms and designed with the same standards. It was normally covered in hardwood, but the hardwood flooring could be retracted to allow the combatants to battle on top of the earth the building was sitting on. There was also a small pond with a ten foor radius and depth for water-type pokemon. In preparation for Dawn's battles, the flooring was already retracted.

"Few trainers outside the league even know about it," Cynthia explained. "The only way for someone outside the league to become a member here is by a gym leader or elite four's recommendation." Cynthia then gestured toward Melany and Rina, who were going through the registration process with the old man. Cynthia, of course, was the one recommending them.

"By the way, isn't this place kinda... empty?" Dawn asked Cynthia. "Aren't I supposed to be here to challenge the league?"

"Well, yes, but I intended to be here before the gym leaders anyway," Cynthia replied. "They won't all be here either, of course, since you can hardly be expected to battle them all in one day. Today you will battle Roark and, if you win, Gardenia. I believe Byron will be here too, for obvious reasons, and there may be others."

"So Roark's my first opponent? Can I still switch pokemon in between battles?"

"Of course."

"Then... I'm going to go switch now before Roark gets here," Dawn said, then got up from the bar and left the building.

* * *

Though the town Dawn was in was rather small it, like most, had the usual pokemon center and pokemart. Dawn went straight to the center to switch her pokemon around. She knew Roark was a rock-type trainer, and prepared her pokemon accordingly. By the time she returned to the Battleground, she found Roark and Byron waiting for her.

"Hmph. You kept me waiting," Roark said bitterly. He and his father Byron were seated near the battlefield, but Roark stood up as soon as Dawn had entered the club. The fierce gaze he set on Dawn seemed to suggest the rock-type gym leader bore a grudge against her.

Dawn blinked. "Umm... I just went to swap pokemon..."

"Ah, don't mind him!" Byron said to Dawn, a wide grin spread across his face. "He's just itching to battle you again after everything that's happened!" Byron then took a rather large swig from a mug filled with a rather frothy-looking substance. Dawn could only assume it was some kind of alcoholic beverage. Cynthia looked on with a frown from the next table over, where she sat with Melany and Rina.

"Something like that," Roark said, gaze never moving from Dawn for even an instant. He only looked away when he turned to walk toward the battlefield itself. Dawn, getting the message, followed suit and moved to the opposite side of the field.

"Incase you haven't heard the rules, allow me to explain," Roark began once they were both in position. "Standard league rules apply, just like the last time. The gym leader will be allowed no substitutes and we will use five pokemon each. Understood."

"Understood," Dawn replied, nodding. She and Roark then reached for their first pokeballs.

"Then let's get this battle started right away! Aerodactyl!" Roark called out, hand clenching his pokeball tightly in raw determination as he sent out his pokemon. Dawn didn't know what to make of the winged lizard with the rocky hide. It certainly wasn't a pokemon native to Sinnoh, thus it struck her as odd that a gym leader would have it.

Shaking her head, Dawn gripped her own pokeball and pushed the button as she thrust it out. "Ryu!" she called out. The pokeball opened, and out came her aura-wielding martial artist. Ryu eyed his opponent and slid into a fighting stance.

"Bad choice. Aerodactyl will finish this one easily," Roark said to Dawn. "Aerodactyl, use Earthquake."

"Think again!" Dawn shot back. "Ryu, Magnet Rise!"

Ryu threw out his arms and focused his aura while Aerodactyl flew up and smashed into the ground. A shockwave shot out through the natural terrain, cracking and shaking the ground. But by the time the shockwave reached Ryu, he was already taking to the air with a glow of aura and static electricity around him. Floating a few feet over the battlefield now, Ryu turned to Aerodactyl with a smirk on his face.

Roark narrowed his eyes, unamused. "Taking to the air? Nice move, but your pokemon doesn't stand a chance against an aerodactyl in the air."

Dawn smirked. "Think so? Well, I have to disagree with that!" she shot back. "Ryu, get in close with Extremespeed!" Ryu quickly nodded and shot through the air in a blur of movement, slamming into Aerodactyl. In spite of the ancient pokemon's rocky hide, it was actually fairly weak defensively and was knocked to the ground from Ryu's attack.

For a brief moment, Roark seemed rather disconcerned by this development. Regardless of Aerodactyl's weak defenses, it could still take an Extremespeed.

Dawn, however, wasn't done yet and called for another attack before Roark could respond. "Follow up with Close Combat!" she called out. As Aerodactyl was trying to get up, Ryu flew down and knocked Aerodactyl into the ground again with a solid punch. Ryu then continued the assault with a flurry of punches and kicks, keeping the aerial pokemon pinned with each blow.

"You're certainly not letting up," Roark said, managing to keep calm in spite of how one-sided the battle between Ryu and Aerodactyl seemed. He reached up to adjust his glasses, then turned a fierce glare toward Dawn as he called out an attack. "Aerodactyl, Fire Fang!"

Aerodactyl grimaced and tried to endure as Ryu continued to pummel him. Fire began building in his mouth, ready to attack, but Ryu's constant pounding wasn't giving him an opening. But Aerodactyl remained determined and, at the first sign of an opening in Ryu's assault, Aerodactyl lunged. Pushing himself up with his wings, he opened his mouth to reveal his flaming jaws and then snapped them shut around Ryu's torso. The attack stopped Ryu in his tracks and caused him to cry out in pain, but he quickly pulled himself free and floated back, holding his chest.

_So he managed to pull off an attack,_ Dawn thought. _A fire-type attack while Ryu's defense was lowered due to Close Combat. That would have hurt a lot more than usual, so we better finish this quickly!_

"Ryu, Metal Claw!" Ryu instantly shook off his pain and threw out his arms, extending a trio of long, metal claws on each hand. While Aerodactyl was flapping his wings to pick himself up off the ground, Ryu dashed toward him and slashed his claws across Aerodactyl's body in an 'x'. Aerodactyl shrieked in pain and fell back, immediately dropping unconscious.

Roark recalled his Aerodactyl and swapped its pokeball for another, reacting almost without thinking. He knew Ryu's next move would finish Aerodactyl off, but his pokemon had already done its part weakening Ryu. "I admit, you've gotten a lot better since that time we fought." Roark said as he drew his next pokeball, then pressed the button and released a golem onto the battlefield. "But I'm still a gym leader, so don't underestimate me!"

"Like I was going to!" Dawn shot back. "Ryu, back off and use Aura Sphere!"

"Not so fast! Golem, Flamethrower!" Golem opened his mouth and spewed a blast of flames at Ryu as he withdrew from melee range. The flames engulfed Ryu only briefly before he flew out of range. As he emerged from the flames he already had his hands cupped, gathering aura into a sphere and launching it at Golem. Golem recoiled as the sphere struck him in the head.

"Didn't expect that, but a Flamethrower from a golem isn't very strong," Dawn said to Roark. "But I doubt your pokemon can take much more, so let's hit it with another Aura Sphere, Ryu!"

"You're attacking without thinking! Golem, roll to close the distance and use Flamethrower again!" Golem started running toward Ryu and then tucked his body into a ball to continue rolling toward him, meanwhile Ryu gathered another Aura Sphere in his cupped hands and launched it at Golem. His more defensive form did little to cushion Golem against the Aura Sphere, which sent a shock through his body when it collided with his shell.

When he had finally closed the distance, Golem uncurled again and spewed forth a blast of flames from his mouth. Ryu tried to fly out of the way, but Golem was too close for Ryu to avoid the attack completely. The line of flames followed Ryu as he tried to circle around Golem, the rock pokemon circling with him to keep the flames on him. Before long, Ryu was sent crashing into the ground as the last of his strength left him.

"Well that didn't seem to go over too well for you," Dawn said with a slight smirk, noting that Roark's Golem didn't have much strength left. She recalled Ryu and then switched his pokeball for one containing a pokemon she was sure could finish this without much trouble. "Bowser, just a little more! Go!" she called out, releasing Bowser from his pokeball. The grass tortoise appeared only a few feet in front of Golem, looking down upon it.

"Think again!" Roark called back. "Golem, Explosion!" Golem's body began to glow as energy built up within it. Dawn tried to call an order to Bowser in response, but her voice was drowned out when that energy was released in a loud explosion. The explosion engulfed Bowser's body but he endured against the explosion until it passed over while Golem's body, his drained of its strength, collapsed. Roark immediately recalled his pokemon.

"-Exploding in someone's face like that is just rude,-" Bowser grumbled, shaking it off.

"Golem downed one of your pokemon and heavily damaged another," Roark explained to Dawn. Indeed, Bowser's body was quite heavily scorched from the blast andit took a lot of Bowser's strength to endure it. So much, in fact, that his body gave off a green glow briefly and the tree on his back sprouted more leaves. His Overgrow ability had become active, though just barely.

"As you can see, I'm not as far behind as you think," Roark said to Dawn, then prepped another pokeball. With his next pokemon, Roark was taking a bit of a gamble, but even if it cost him another pokemon there was a certain technique he was hoping to get off. "Probopass, your turn now! Go!" The next pokemon that appeared on Roark's side of the field was a rock pokemon with a rather large, red nose, prompting Dawn to make mental comparisons to the nosepass she used to have. And she wasn't alone in that.

"Looks like that's the evolved form of a nosepass," Melany noted to Rina as the two sat watching the match. "Doesn't look so much like a rock-type pokemon anymore though, added steel-type I'd say. And a stronger connection to magnetism."

"But you've already figured out how to evolve a nosepass, right?" Rina asked her. Melany nodded. "So after this, should we make the trade later?"

"Yeah," Melany replied with a nod. "After this match."

"You're not going to make any comebacks with that pokemon! Bowser, end this quickly with Frenzy Plant!" Dawn called out, reasoning that Frenzy Plant was Bowser's strongest attack against Probopass after the boost from his ability.

"-Seems like I've been using that technique a lot since I evolved, but you won't see me complaining!-" Bowser let out a roar and then stomped his feet against the ground. Thick, powerful tree roots sprouted from his back and shot into the ground. Those roots then shot up around Probopass and wrapped around him several times and started squeezing tightly around him. After keeping up the squeezing for a moment, the roots receded back to Bowser. To Dawn and Bowser's surprise, Probopass was still standing though groaning in pain.

"Tch! That thing's really tough!" Dawn growled.

"It's also a steel-type. What you should have went with was Earthquake," Roark said to Dawn. "Of course, this works out even better for me because now I can do this: Probopass, Stealth Rock!" Probopass groaned, then floated up and slammed back down into the ground. Several rocks were knocked loose and floated up, then shot across the battlefield and embedded in the ground.

_Stealth Rock. I remember that technique. Any pokemon I send out from this point on will be hit by the rocks as soon as they're released_, Dawn thought. _But Bowser still can't do anything. I don't think I should be relying on Frenzy Plant so much, even if Bowser is getting an Overgrow boost..._

"Okay, now let's finish this while we have the chance! Probopass, use Magnet Bomb!" The noses on Probopass's body pulsed and hummed as the pokemon began to focus its magnetic powers. Bits of steel particles quickly began to gather into a silverish ball floating in front of him. When that ball was launched at Bowser it exploded on contact with his face. Bowser groaned in pain and staggered back, wobbling a bit on his feet. For a moment it seemed like it would be the end for him, but Bowser drew on his last reserves of strength to remain standing and in the fight.

"Looks like it's not over yet!" Dawn called out to a surprised Roark. "Looks like your pokemon isn't as strong on offense as it is on defense, but my pokemon IS! Bowser, finish this now with Earthquake!"

"-Gladly!-" Bowser replied, then rose up on his hind legs and slammed his forelegs into the ground hard. A powerful shockwave shot out through the gym, cracking and shaking the ground. The shockwave knocked Probopass over onto the quaking ground, exposing his entire body to the quake and slowly sinking into the cracking ground. When the Earthquake stops, Probopass is left unconscious.

"Still underestimating her..." Roark mutters as he recalls Probopass. "But I still have my best pokemon left, too." Roark returned Probopass's pokeball to his belt and then took another and quickly released his next pokemon. "Ramparados, go!" From the pokeball Roark grabbed emerged a pokemon that bore a strong resemblance to cranidos, though much larger, bulkier, and with a darker-colored body. It let out a loud, menacing roar when it appeared.

"I remember that one, and I bet it's gotten a lot stronger since it evolved." Dawn considered her options upon seeing Roark's next pokemon and decided to switch, taking Bowser's pokeball in her hand. "Bowser! Good job, you can rest now!" Dawn said as she recalled him, then quickly swapped pokeballs. "Okay, Chika, now it's your turn! Go!" Aiming the pokeball at the small pond, Dawn released Chika from her pokeball and into the pond.

Predictably, as soon as Chika emerged on the field, the rocks set about by Probopass suddenly shot up into the air. They gathered together toward the middle of the field, took aim at Chika, then shot down toward her. Chika cried out in surprise as the rocks struck her, pushing her down into the water until she hit the bottom of the pond. The rocks then rose up out of the water and scattered across the field again. Chika soon resurfaced as well, looking only minorly harmed from the experience.

"Don't think your pokemon is safe just because it's in the water. Ramparados is about to take care of that with an Earthquake!" Ramparados roared loudly and slammed its head into the ground. The battlefield shook violently and a shockwave raced across it toward the small pond, cracking the terrain around it. Chika was unaffected in the water, but the technique had the desired effect for Roark. The water began to drain into the cracks surrounding the pond. Almost all the water was drained by the time it leveled off, thanks in part to the damage to the field caused by Bowser prior. Chika was left with her belly almost scraping against the bottom of the pond.

"We don't need the pond!" Dawn shot back, her bravado hiding the fact that she was a little disturbed that her defence was removed so easily. "Chika, trap Ramparados with a Whirlpool!" Chika let out a cry and spat out a stream of water into a nearby crack, forcing the water up through the cracks around Ramparados. The rising water began to swirl around, forming into a whirlpool around him and trapping him within it. Ramparados seemed rather unconcerned by the turn of events, though. The water wasn't even touching him.

"Think that'll help? We can hit your pokemon without even moving!" Roark said to Dawn. "Ramparados, use Earthquake again!"

"Not so fast! Chika, use Bounce! Go up as high as you can!" Chika hopped out of the water as Ramparados was slamming his head into the ground. When Chika hit the dry ground at the edge of the shallow pond, she bounced straight up into the air, avoiding the resulting Earthquake. Chika went high up, nearing the ceiling at the apex of the jump.

"Okay! Now, dive into the whirlpool and draw from it to attack with Waterfall!" The command threw Chika for a loop as she was dropping down toward Ramparados, but she figured it out in time to start drawing the water from the whirlpool around her. Because she was dropping so quickly, very little of the water made it to her body. Instead, her attempt had a VERY different effect.

As Chika was dropping down through the whirlpool, the swirling wall of water began to implode. From the top, the water began to fall inward, as if it were being pulled down along with Chika. Chika managed to hit her target perfectly, landing on Ramparados but merely bouncing off and skipping across the battlefield toward Roark. Chika's failed attack was followed by the entire mass of the whirlpool collapsing on top of Ramparados, pounding the prehistoric rock pokemon into the ground and sending the water splashing across the field.

"What... what was..." Dawn uttered in complete shock. The result of her spontaneous idea was far from what she had intended it to be. It came to her in a spur of the moment, to use Waterfall and combine it with the previous Whirlpool to form more of a water drill. While the end result wasn't what Dawn was aiming for, it was effective nonetheless. She was sure her original idea would have been better, though.

"Okay, when this is over, we're going to need more practice..." she said with a sigh. More annoyingly, she could still feel Ramparados's aura, and it was still able to fight. "Well, now that we're on land, let's follow up with another Whirlpool! Use this one for transportation, Chika!"

"In spite of that obvious failure, she seems pretty experienced with this pokemon," Roark noted to himself as Chika formed a miniature whirlpool to ride on. Not only was this second technique a success, but Chika rode it perfectly. "Usually only experienced water pokemon trainers would try teaching a fish pokemon techniques to battle on land. If anything I'd have expected a trainer like her to use a floatzel..."

Shaking his head, Roark returned his focus to the battle. Ramparados was getting back up as well and turning to glare at Chika. Roark quickly made his move. "Ramparados, let's finish this in one move! HEAD SMASH!" Ramparados growled and lowered his head, then charged toward Chika.

"Chika! Splash!"

...And charged straight through the whirlpool Chika was using to ride on. Chika had managed to use Splash just in time to evade the attack, skimming just over Ramparados's body. The miniature whirlpool was destroyed by Ramparados's attack, though running through it only did minimal damage to Rampardos himself.

"Now! Finish this with Water Pulse!" Dawn called out. Chika quickly turned when she landed and fired several water rings at Ramparados from behind. Ramparados groaned when the rings struck the base of his tail and then finally collapsed. Ramparados went down without landing a single hit on Dawn's pokemon.

_That's what I get for rushing in recklessly,_ Roark thought as he recalled his pokemon. _But it didn't seem like I had much choice. I had a lot of ground to make up for and a pokemon like lumineon wouldn't survive a Head Smash from my Ramparados._

"You've been doing pretty good to force me this far. I can really see how much you've improved," Roark said to Dawn, acknowledging that he was losing rather sorely. "With you still having four pokemon remaining, three at full strength, it's clear to me that I don't stand much of a chance of beating you."

"Well, at least you're being honest," Dawn said with a smirk.

"However..." Roark reached down and took one last pokeball from his belt. "As a gym leader, I can't just give up. Even if it's nearly hopeless, I'll keep fighting. And I still have a very powerful pokemon in my position." Roark held out the pokeball and released his final pokemon. Dawn caught sight of a bipedal, lizard-like pokemon with a rocky hide mere moments before an intense sandstorm covered the field. "Meet Tyranitar, one of the most powerful non-legendary pokemon there is."

"Is that so..." Dawn mumbled, taking Chika's pokeball in her hand. "Chika, good job! You can sit this one out!" she said, then recalled Chika and swapped pokeballs. She had the perfect pokemon in mind for this particular matchup. "Well I have a pokemon that powerful myself! So come on out, Bahamut!" The pokeball in Dawn's hand opened up and released a pokemon into the sandstorm that was even harder to see than the shadowy figure of Roark's Tyranitar. The sand seemed to swirl more intensely around Bahamut's form.

Of course, Bahamut was more than happy to announce his presence. "-The roar of a sandstorm greets my presence, I-YOW!-" Or at least he tried, but was cut off when several rocks suddenly shot into the sandstorm and struck him, then retreated back into the ground. Realizing what had happened, Bahamut let out a menacing growl. "-A trap! Of all the sneaky, dirty, lowdown...-"

"-Yo, chill man, wasn't me that did that,-" Roark's Tyranitar aid, cutting off Bahamut's rant. "-One of Roark's other pokemon did, so just forget about that and let's battle.-"

Bahamut smirked. "-Sounds like a plan to me!-"

So even Dawn has powerful pokemon like dragons. I won't back down just because of that, though, Roark thought. "Tyranitar, close the distance and attack with Ice Fang!"

"Bahamut, hit it hard with an Earthquake!"

"-**THIS IS THE WAY REAL POKEMON FIGHT!**-" Bahamut roared, then stomped the ground to send a powerful shockwave surging throughout it. Tyranitar was already charging toward him by that point, but Tyranitar's movements slowed as the ground shook and cracked beneath his feet. It took a fair bit of effort just for Tyranitar to remain standing, but when the Earthquake subsided he went on the attack again.

Tyranitar closed the distance and opened his mouth, revealing his teeth coated in ice. Tyranitar was very close to Bahamut when he moved to attack and the dragon pokemon moved back to try to avoid it, inadvertedly exposing his neck to Tyranitar in the process. Bahamut roared loudly in pain as Tyranitar's ice-coated fangs snapped shut, feeling a literal biting cold.

"Shake it off with Dragon Claw!" Dawn called out. Bahamut growled and brought one hand back, drawing power into his clawed hand and then lashing out and striking Tyranitar across the chest. Tyranitar cried out in pain and released his grip on Bahamut. The two pokemon then backed away from each other.

"Tyranitar, get back in there and attack with another Ice Fang!" Tyranitar opened his mouth and lunged forward, aiming to bite into Bahamut's shoulder with another mouth of ice covered fangs. However, what Tyranitar thought was a shoulder turned out to be nothing more than a swirling mass of sand. He missed Bahamut by a few mere inches.

_We got lucky there, but I'm starting to think staying in melee range is a bad idea with this pokemon,_ Dawn thought. "Bahamut, use Dig and put some distance between you and Tyranitar!" Bahamut let out a low growl, none too happy with Dawn's decision, but followed her orders anyway. He dove into the ground, quickly digging in and disappearing below the surface.

"Bad move, now we've got you! Tyranitar, use Earthquake!" Roark called out. Tyranitar responded with a loud roar and then stomped the ground, causing an Earthquake. The ground around him shook and cracked, but the true damage couldn't be seen. Bahamut was much more vulnerable to the attack underground. Dawn cursed herself for not realizing a powerful pokemon like Tyranitar would likely know such a technique. When the ground stopped shaking, Bahamut was still nowhere to be seen.

"Looks like that ends this match then," Roark said. No sooner had he finished speaking than a hand suddenly emerged from the ground behind Tyranitar. Another hand emerged, clawing at the earth, then Bahamut slowly pulled himself free.

"-Don't... count... me... out... just... yet...-" Bahamut wheezed, gasping for breath between each word.

_Bahamut doesn't have much strength left, but one more attack should do it anyway,_ Dawn thought. "Bahamut, let's try one more attack! Earthquake!"

"Tyranitar, use Stone Edge and finish this match once and for all!"

Both pokemon summoned their strength and stomped the ground, unleashing their final attacks. Tyranitar's attack managed to strike first as a large, sharp rock suddenly shot up from the ground next to Bahamut and slashed across the side of his body. Bahamut groaned and collapsed. Under any other circumstances, it would have been an easy attack for him to endure. Already so weak, however, it was the final nail in the coffin.

Even with Bahamut's defeat, however, Tyranitar wasn't safe. With the attack already started, there was no stopping Bahamut's Earthquake. The ground under Tyrnaitar shook, cracked, and collapsed as the tunnel Bahamut dug under him gave way. Tyranitar roared in pain as he sunk into the ground, falling in so far only his head remained visible. His eyes shut tightly as he lost consciousness, Bahamut's final attack draining Tyranitar of his strength.

"This match was a draw... but I still lose," Roark said dejectedly as he recalled his pokemon. He looked across the battlefield toward Dawn, who was doing the same, and let out a sigh. "I hate to admit it, but she really has come a long way since that time we battled. I can see why Cynthia's taken an interest in her..."

Reaching into his pocket, Roark produced a badge - the coal badge - and a TM disc. He then walked across the cracked and battered battlefield toward Dawn.

"Here," he said, handing the two items over to her. "It feels odd to be giving out the usual badge and TM here, but you've earned it for sure," Roark said to her. "The TM contains Stealth Rock. I'm sure I don't have to explain that technique by now."

"No, I have a pretty good idea for how to use it," Dawn replied, then eyed the badge in her hand. "So this is my first badge..." Dawn smiled to herself, admiring her badge. In video games, Dawn would unlock achievements all the time. But this was the first time she actually had something real to show for it.

"That goes on your trainer card, by the way..." Roark informed her, realizing Dawn likely didn't know what to do with it.

"Oh, right!" Dawn quickly took out her trainer card, which had space on it for gym badges. She pressed her newly acquired Coal Badge into the first slot and it adhered quickly. "Thanks," she said, smiling at Roark. "By the way, that last match was amazing! Even though I won overall, your pokemon managed to bring the last match to a draw even though Bahamut had a few advantages over it!"

"Well, Tyranitar is a powerful pokemon..." Roark said. He then felt a hand on his shoulder.

"And my son is a powerful trainer in his own right!" Byron said, grinning from ear to ear. "You've still got a long way to go before you're on the same level as me, but you're getting better all the time! I'm proud of you, and don't ever think I'm not!"

"Geez... dad..."

"Now whaddya say I treat you to a drink for such a great match?" Byron said, already dragging his son toward the bar.

"Dad, you know you shouldn't drink so early in the day! What if mom saw..." Roark's voice trailed off as the two of them approached the bar.

Even though Byron sounded sincere, I still get the feeling he's had a few over the course of the match, Dawn thought to herself.

"He won't admit it, but Roark's actually catching up to him pretty quickly," Cynthia said to Dawn as she approached her. "Congratulations on winning your first match. I admit even I didn't expect you to win so handily."

"Thanks. I kinda feel sorry for my other pokemon, Jax, since he's the only one that didn't fight in this match," Dawn said to Cynthia. "But at this rate I think I could handle a lot more than just two battles today!"

"Think so?" Cynthia said, then pointed Dawn to where the old man was dragging a fire hose to the emptied pond. "I think the battlefield is going to need a lot more time to recouperate than your pokemon will..."

"I guess you're right..." Dawn said. Letting out a sigh, she held up her trainer card to look at her badge again. "Well, that's one down, seven to go..."

_Yes,_ Cynthia thought. _And hopefully Flint is having some luck convincing that man to come here..._

* * *

Author's Notes: I apologize for the lateness, went Christmas shopping yesterday and didn't have much time left to finish up. Incidentally, there's a distinct possibility next week's could be late too. I think the reason goes without saying, though.

Anyway, Dawn's first badge comes as a rather sombre affair with only a few people to watch, though I intend to have more people show up at the Battleground as the fights go on. Ashley, of course, will be among those to show up eventually.


	53. Chapter 52: Battlefield of Flowers

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 52**

**A Battlefield of Flowers  
**

"I'm surprised you're trading Golem so willingly. I honestly expected you'd just refuse the first time I asked," Rina said to Melany. They were currently in the upstairs of the Survival Area's pokemon center, preparing to make a trade. As she spoke, Rina placed the pokeball containing the nosepass she received from Dawn in one side of the machine.

"I'll admit, Golem was a reliable ally back when I was journeying through Hoenn, and it's kinda sad to see him go, but Rhyperior just seems to outclass him in pretty much every way," Melany said, then placed Golem's pokeball on the opposite side of the trade machine. "Same type, Rhyperior learns almost all the techniques Golem does and more, and Rhyperior is simply more powerful defensively and offensively. Besides, I know you'll take good care of him and we're going to be working together anyway, right?"

"That's true, but I think Golem would hate to hear the part about Rhyperior."

"Which is why that part need not be mentioned," Melany said to her. "Anyway, let's get this over with and hurry back." Melany then pressed a button on keyboard attached to the side of the machine, beginning the trade.

* * *

Melany and Rina made their trade and then headed back to the Battleground. There were now several new faces at the club. Gardenia, Dawn's next challenge, had shown up at the Battleground along with a green haired girl named Cheryl. Ashley had finally arrived as well and was sitting alone at a table with seats for four. Melany and Rina headed over to her table.

"I was wondering where you two were," Ashley said to them. In her hand she held a small glass filled with a blue liquid. She gestured with that hand toward the battlefield, where Dawn and Gardenia were taking up positions. "You almost missed the start of the fight."

"Gardenia wasn't here when we left, so we thought we had more time," Rina said to Ashley, then eyed her drink. "Umm... is that alcoholic?"

"Yep," Ashley replied. She took a small sip and then flashed them a grin. "I'm legally old enough to drink in Sinnoh!"

"I find it suspicious that you looked into such a thing to begin with," Melany said to her.

"Oh relax. There's nothing wrong with a casual drink, right?" Ashley replied, then winked at her. "Speaking of casual, I looked into the age of consent, too, just incase you were interested..."

"Absolutely not," Melany replied tersely. Finally taking their seats at the table, Melany sat on an angle from Ashley while Rina sat across from Melany. Ashley eyed the two, a mischevious glint in her eye.

"You're right." Ashley shrugged. "I don't know what I was thinking. Surely you would prefer to run away to Johto, where you and Rina can get married at such a tender age? Something as silly as 'laws' don't apply when you live on a regionless island, afterall." Rina glared daggers at Ashley and Melany let out an audible sigh.

"Suddenly I find myself also curious about the drinking age in Sinnoh..."

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Dawn and Gardenia prepared to start the match.

"I've been looking forward to this ever since that day at the Galactic Building!" Gardenia said to Dawn, hands placed firmly on her hips. "You seemed like a decent enough trainer back then, so I want to see how I measure up against you."

"Hmhmhm..." Dawn took a pokeball in her hand and tossed it up and down a few times. "Just don't get too optimistic now. I happen to have a pokemon with me that is your greatest weakness!"

"Oh yeah? But I wouldn't be a gym leader if I wasn't able to cover my weakpoints!" Gardenia replied with a smirk and then took a pokeball from her belt. "So let's see what you've got! Jumpluff, go!" The pokeball in Gardenia's hand opened and out came a small, blue grass pokemon with large balls of cotton on either side of its body and on top of it as well.

"Ah, but I bet you're not ready for this one!" Dawn replied. "Kabula, come on out!" Dawn's own pokeball opened and, from it, a purple ghost pokemon in the shape of a hot air balloon emerged. Almost immediately, Gardenia's calm demeanour was shattered. Her hands began to shake nervously.

"A-a flying-type pokemon, huh? B-but my Jumpluff is pretty fast, so I can take it out with status effects..."

"Oh? But is that the type that's actually bothering you?" Dawn asked, grinning mischeviously. "I think we both know something about this pokemon is actually scaring you."

"I'm definitely not afraid of ghost pokemon if that's what you're implying!" Gardenia shot back, mustering her courage as she glared back at Dawn. "And even if I WAS afraid of ghosts then that'd be a pretty underhanded trick to use one against me knowing that!"

"But shouldn't a gym leader be able to handle something like this anyway?" Dawn teased.

Gardenia gritted her teeth. The fear that had gripped her was gone. Now? Now she was just annoyed. "Jumpluff, Sunny Day!" Jumpluff raised her cottonball-like arms into the air and floated up. Light began to radiate from her body and then shot up into the air as a beam. The light spread out over the battlefield when it hit the ceiling, providing an intensely bright indoor sun.

Maybe I shouldn't have teased her so much. I think I annoyed her to the point of losing my advantage, Dawn thought. Better press the attack while I can, then.

"Kabula, Air Cutter!" Dawn called out. Kabul gathered air into a small whirlwind underneath his body, from which he fired a v-shaped blade of air at Jumpluff. To Dawn's surprise, Jumpluff swiftly floated to the side of the blade to evade it entirely in a sudden burst of speed. "What! How did it move that fast!"

"Jumpluff is already quite a fast pokemon," Gardenia explained to her. "Add in a speed boost from her Chlorophyll ability and her speed is unbeatable!" Gardenia smirked. "I'm about to make you regret teasing me about my fear of ghosts by taking your's out! Besides, even if that thing IS a messenger from hell it hardly looks threatening! Jumpluff, hit it with Toxic!"

At Gardenia's command, Jumpluff pointed one of its cottonball arms at Kabula and fired a ball of poison at him. The poison flowed into Kabula's body and began sapping his strength.

_So that's her plan. Wear my pokemon down with poison while her pokemon evades all my attacks with its increased speed,_ Dawn realized. She considered her options, but the thought of having another of her pokemon poisoned didn't sit well with her. _Let's see if I can at least damage it or slow it down with Kabula first..._

"Kabula, use Stockpile!" Kabula's eyes narrowed into a determined expression, shrugging off the pain of the poison that now coursed through its form. He then began drawing power, which he stored within his body. The energy he stockpiled within his body caused him to expand, increasing his defenses.

"Good! Keep it up!" Dawn yelled, urging him on.

Feeling a rush from the energy he was storing, Kabula let out a loud cackling. "-Hehehe! Just you wait, Miss Gym Leader! I'll give you a real good reason to be afraid of ghosts!-" He said, continuing to gather energy still.

"As if I would go on the offense, or let you use the techniques that go with Stockpile!" Gardenia said to Dawn. "Jumpluff, use Sleep Powder!" Jumpluff quickly flew closer to Kabula and began shaking her cottonballs, releasing a green powder into the air. As the powder filled the air around him, Kabula felt himself growing drowsy and his body suddenly stopped expanding. Then, a moment later, he suddenly dropped to the ground and fell fast asleep.

"Now get it with Leech Seed while it's asleep!" Gardenia quickly commanded. Jumpluff pointed one of its cottonballs at Kabula and launched a small seed from it. The seed landed on Kabula's body and sprouted vines to quickly latch on. The seed then began draining Kabula's strength, which was already dwindling as time went on due to the poison in its body.

"So much for that advantage of your's," Gardenia taunted Dawn, folding her arms and looking pretty smug. "Now your ghost pokemon will be defeated without even landing a hit!"

Dawn grimaced. _I hate to admit it, but it really is looking that way,_ she thought. _Me and my big mouth! If I didn't tease her, she probably would have at least hesitated a little against a ghost-type pokemon..._

"Now, since Jumpluff's attacks will barely make make a dent in a ghost and flying-type pokemon, we'll continue to disable your pokemon instead! Jumpluff, Stun Spore!" Jumpluff aimed one of its cottonballs at Kabula and wagged it, sending paralysis-inducing spores at the sleeping Kabula, adding paralysis to his list of negative status effects.

_As if Kabula didn't have it bad enough already!_ Dawn thought. She then noticed Kabula beginning to stir and realized, with Leech Seed and Toxic already having drained most of Kabula's strength, it was now or never. "Kabula! Spit Up!"

Kabula quickly rose when he heard Dawn calling out for him to attack. With the last of his strength rapidly dwindling, and his body paralyzed, it was hard for Kabula to aim, but he fired anyway. The energy he had stored in his body shot out in one massive burst from the 'x' on his face. Jumpluff tried to evade but still took a glancing blow from the massive energy blast. Jumpluff spiralled into the ground as the artificial sunlight above faded and Kabula, finally drained of his strength, fainted.

"At least he got one good hit," Dawn said as she recalled Kabula and then switched for another pokeball. "That just paves the way for my next pokemon! Jack Frost, I choose you!" The pokeball in Dawn's hand opened and from it a sleek, feline-like pokemon with fur so light a shade of blue it was almost white.

"-Okay! Today... I'll actually win a match!-" Jack Frost said confidently.

"Jack Frost, attack quickly with Ice Shard!" Dawn called out. Jack Frost eagerly went on the offense, opening his mouth and releasing a blast of cold air that froze into icy shards in a flash. The shards shot toward Jumpluff and one of them managed to hit her, knocking her flat onto her back where she remained unmoving until Gardenia recalled her.

"-Wow... I didn't think I'd win that easily!-" Jack Frost said, blinking in disbelief.

"I guess that makes us even now..." Gardenia said, though her tone didn't sound entirely convinced. Though as a gym leader she was used to facing pokemon that had a type advantage, glaceon was a pokemon with a type advantage and a lot of firepower. She was having trouble seeing any easy way to defeat Jack Frost.

She did have one idea to try, though, and grabbed a pokeball containing the pokemon she hoped would be able to hold her own. "Bellossom, I choose you!" she called out, releasing a rather small, grass-type pokemon wearing a leaf skirt.

"Bellossom, use Sunny Day!" Gardenia called out, hoping to use the same strategy again to gain an advantage. Bellossom's body began to glow and she then raised her small arms, sending a beam of light up into the air. The light then spread out, creating an effect like an indoor sun.

"Not so fast! Jack Frost, Icy Wind!" Jack Frost opened his mouth again and expelled an intensely cold air from his mouth. Bellossom shivered as the cold air washed over her body, sending a chill through her body. The chill slowed her body, almost countering the increased speed from the artificial sunlight.

_If she keeps that up, her Chlorophyll ability will be completely negated! _Gardenia thought, grimacing. _Better put her pokemon out of commission and finish this quickly!_

"Bellossom, put it out of commission with Sleep Powder!" Bellossom quickly jumped up and spun around at Gardenia's command, releasing a green powder into the air as she spun.

Not willing to let another pokemon snooze away the battle, Dawn acted fast. "Jack Frost, counter it with another Icy Wind!" she called out. Jack Frost exhaled another blast of cold air, aiming more for the powder than the pokemon releasing it. The small, green flecks were instantly frozen by such an intense cold and dropped out of the air. Bellossom still felt a bit of the chill as well and shivered.

_This isn't going anywhere, but her pokemon seems to lack any of the more powerful ice-type attacks like Blizzard or Ice Beam,_ Gardenia thought. She then nodded to herself. "Okay, Bellossom, time to get serious and go on the offense! Attack with Solarbeam!"

Dawn smirked. "Just what we've been waiting for! Jack Frost, get ready with Mirror Coat!"

Jack Frost's body shimmered as Bellossom lowered her head, pointing toward him. Light quickly gathered in her body and then twin beams fired out from the two flowers on top of her head. The beams combined into a single, large beam of pure white light. Jack Frost cried out in pain as the beam struck him, but even as the beam was burning his body the reflective coating directed a second beam back at Bellossom that had twice as much power as her own. Jack Frost managed to endure Bellossom's attack and was still standing, but Bellossom only barely held on. The beam knocked her over and she struggled to get back on her feet.

"Now, Jack, finish this with Ice Shard!" Jack opened his mouth and released a blast of cold air from his mouth that instantly froze into several shards of ice. The ice shot out at high speed, slashing across the side of Bellossom's body. Bellossom collapsed immediately, no longer having the strength to fight back. Gardenia immediately recalled her and drew out another pokeball.

_Bellossom lost, but if I act quickly I can finish off her pokemon!_ Gardenia thought. "Roserade, I choose you!" she called out. The pokeball opened and out came Gardenia's star pokemon, a humanoid rose pokemon that appeared to have a mask over its face. Roserade emerged standing on one foot with her arms crossed.

"Roserade, attack with Weather Ball!" Roserade raised her hands over her head and began to form a fireball, drawing energy from the intense sunlight to power her attack. She then bowed, keeping her arms outstretched and tossing the fireball at Jack Frost. Jack Frost cried out in pain as the fireball hit him and exploded, knocking him onto his side. He tried to get back up again only for his legs to give out from under him. He collapsed again, losing consciousness this time. Dawn quickly recalled him.

"Two for two then..." Dawn mumbled to herself, then drew another pokeball. "I seriously need to gain some ground somewhere. Here's hoping this one does it for me." Dawn pressed the button and called out her pokemon's name. "Axel!" The pokeball opened and a red beam fired out, then materialized into a unicorn pokemon with a reddish-gold flame burning along the back of its body. Axel focused an intense glare on Roserade, the same look he gave most pokemon. Or people.

_Roserade might be able to take this one on, but I don't want to risk it,_ Gardenia thought as she took Roserade's pokeball in her hand. "Roserade, good job! That's enough for now!" she said as she recalled her pokemon. With only two other pokemon remaining, there was barely any need for her to debate which pokemon to send out next.

"I know you'll recognize this one, so let's see how well you handle it!" Gardenia said to Dawn with a playful grin as she took out another pokeball. "Go! Torterra!" The pokeball opened and out came a pokemon that both Dawn and Axel were innately familiar with. A large, tortoise pokemon with trees and rocks on its back. Axel's glare seemed to intensify when he saw it.

"-Oh, I'm going to enjoy burning one of these,-" Axel said, dragging one hooved foot across the ground. He eagerly awaited the order to attack.

_I want to switch pokemon myself now actually, but I can tell Axel is eager to fight this one,_ Dawn thought. She let out a sigh. _Guess losing to Bowser that time left a sore spot. Maybe if he beats this torterra he'll get it out of his system?_

Her decision made, Dawn quickly called out an attack. "Axel, use Flare Blitz!" And with that, Axel bolted. He charged across the field, picking up speed while flames began to swirl around his body.

"Torterra! Get ready with Earthquake!" Gardenia called out. Torterra's body immediately tensed and she watched the approaching rapidash closely.

_Get ready with an Earthquake?_ Dawn's brow furrowed. _What's she up to?_

As Axel neared Torterra, Dawn got her answer. Torterra suddenly rose up on her hind legs and then, just as Axel would have been running under her, slammed down on top of him with enough force to pound him over a foot into the ground. The flames that were surrounding Axel were immediately snuffed out and a shockwave from the impact shook the battlefield. Dawn's jaw immediately dropped, the technique eerily familiar to her.

"Point-blank Earthquake. Gets Flare Blitz users everytime, with minimal damage to Torterra," Gardenia said to Dawn. "It's rather devastating, as you can no doubt tell."

"Fully aware," Dawn said to Gardenia. "But we're not done here yet." Dawn gestured to where Axel still lie, embedded in the ground. Gardenia quirked a brow and watched Axel closely. The rapidash was so motionless that one might think Gardenia drastically overdid it. Then, to her utter shock, he began to move. Though his movements were sluggish, Axel slowly began to stand up, pulling his body free of the Axel-shaped crater left in front of Torterra.

"No way..." Gardenia whispered in disbelief. "Her pokemon still has some strength left after that Earthquake? I'm glad I didn't try to have Roserade fight it..."

"Axel, now's your chance! Flare Blitz!" A fire flared in Axel's eyes as he summoned his strength for one final attack. Flames surrounded Axel's body and he threw himself bodily at Torterra. Torterra groaned in pain and staggered back, feeling the intense heat of the flames surrounding Axel. Axel himself, however, quickly collapsed after hitting. The collision was more than he could take in his condition and so he finally lost consciousness.

"We got a good hit... but I thought for sure Axel would have at least managed to do more than that before going down," Dawn said to herself as she recalled her pokemon. "Using Earthquake like that caught me completely off guard, but my next pokemon won't be hit by that."

Dawn placed Axel's pokeball back on her belt, took another one in her hand, and pointed the new pokeball toward the field. "Elincia!" she called out. The pokeball opened, releasing her queen bee pokemon from its confines. "Elincia, attack with Attack Order!"

"-SWARM, MY CHILDREN!-" Elincia cried out, pointing one clawed finger toward Torterra. A swarm of combee larvae emerged from her hive-like lower body and moved toward Torterra.

"Torterra can handle this one, too!" Gardenia said confidently. "Torterra, Stone Edge!" Gardenia's Torterra growled and raised one leg and slammed it down, causing a large, sharp rock to suddenly shoot up out of the ground from under Elincia. Elincia cried out sharply as the rock slashed across the side of her body and dropped to the ground. This was followed shortly after by the combee larvae swarming Torterra and attacking him repeatedly. It wasn't long before Gardenia's Torterra began to glow and the tree on her back spontaneously grew more leaves.

"Torterra, quick! Finish this with another Stone Edge!" Gardenia called out. Torterra tried to attack, but the swarm of larva swirling around her face made it hard to concentrate. Shaking her head, she was able to chase away enough of them to see her opponent getting back up. Her strength was dwindling as the larvae continued their attack. Torterra raised one foot to make her attack on Elincia, but the attack never came. Instead, Torterra suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed.

"So close..." Gardenia muttered as she recalled her pokemon. She was down to two now and quickly swapped Torterra's pokeball for one of the remaining two. "Okay then, it's up to you to finish this bout, Cherrim!" Gardenia called out, releasing what looked like a purple, upside-down flower from its pokeball. Elincia's larvae quickly withdrew to their hive while Elincia considered this new foe.

_Cherrim. I know about that one,_ Dawn thought. _Right now the flower is closed, but it will open it again in direct sunlight to reveal its true form._

"Cherrim, set up! Sunny Day!" Cherrim's body began to glow and then a beam of light shot up into the air and spread over the field to bathe it in light like an indoor sun. With the light shining down on her now, Cherrim's petals opened up to reveal its yellow, smiling face.

_Yeah, saw that coming_, Dawn thought. "Elincia, Attack Order again!" Elincia pointed toward Cherrim and her larvae immediately swarmed, turning Cherrim's smiling face to one of terror as the swarm set upon her. The tiny larvae swarmed around Cherrim, biting and stinging her relentlessly.

_How underhanded! Scaring poor Cherrim like that!_ Gardenia thought, biting her lip to keep her anger bottled up inside her. When her anger had subsided, she called out an attack. "Cherrim, strike back with a Leech Seed!" Cherrim, still cowering within the swarm of bugs, opened one eye to spot her target. She then let out a shrill cry as she spun her head and launched a seed at Elincia. The seed landed on Elincia's lower body and sprouted vines to latch on, then began draining her energy.

"Elincia, switch tactics. Heal Order!" Dawn's command was followed closely by Elincia calling out her own command, ordering her larvae to fall back. The swarm moved away from Cherrim and returned to Elincia. The swarm moved around Elincia's body, healing the injuries she had sustained thus far and restoring her strength. Once their task was complete, the combee larvae returned to their hive to rest.

"Cherrim, use Swagger!" Cherrim put a smug look on her face and took a few steps forward with a swagger in her walk, the sight of which left Elincia both confused and enraged.

"Elincia, Attack Order!" Elincia called out her larvae to attack, but in her confusion she forget to direct them toward their target. As a result, the larvae all immediately swarmed around her and started biting and stinging. "Err... that could have gone better..." Dawn mumbled.

"Cherrim, keep it up! Solarbeam!" Cherrim quickly drew light toward her from the artificial sun above and channeled it through her body, then fired it from two red spheres on top of her head. The twin beams that fired from the spheres combined into a single, larger beam before finally hitting Elincia. Of course, with her durability the laser barely moved her.

"Elincia, try Attack Order again!" Elincia made another attempt to order her larvae to attack, this time pointing them toward Cherrim appropriately. The larvae attacking her swarmed toward Cherrim and more larvae poured out of her abdomen to add to the attack. Cherrim shrieked as the larvae descended upon her, but her cries were soon silenced. The swarm soon dispersed, revealing Cherrim's unconscious form which was immediately recalled by Gardenia.

"Then I guess it comes to this..." Gardenia muttered as she drew her final pokeball. "Roserade! Time for you to make your stand!" The pokeball in Gardenia's hand opened and, from it, her star pokemon re-emerged onto the battlefield.

_Okay, I've won this battle now,_ Dawn thought. _All I need is for Elincia to land one good hit..._

"Roserade, Weather Ball!"

"Elincia, once more! Attack Order!"

Roserade raised her arms and a ball of fire began to form, growing from a small dot to a large fireball. Meanwhile, Elincia ordered another attack from her larvae. The larvae that had attacked Cherrim were still hovering close to the area where she had fainted and were on Roserade in an instant. The initial biting and stinging distracted Roserade momentarily, but didn't stop her from throwing the fireball in the end. It impacted Elincia's body and exploded, scorching the queen bee's body and knocking her to the ground. The larvae continued to attack, and for a moment it seemed like Elincia would be able to get back up and fight, but she soon lost consciousness as Cherrim's Leech Seed continued to drain her. With Elincia down, the larvae returned to their fallen queen.

"Both down to our last pokemon then," Dawn said to Gardenia with a smirk as she recalled Elincia. "Too bad my next pokemon is going to end this."

Gardenia smirked in return. "You sound pretty confident, but you were confident about that first pokemon too, weren't you?"

"Well this next one has a lot more power!" Dawn took another pokeball and held it in two hands as she released her pokemon. "Captain Falcon! Show us your moves!" she called out. The pokeball opened and out came Dawn's staraptor, Captain Falcon.

"-Let's just get this over with,-" Captain Falcon muttered.

_A staraptor. For a common bird pokemon, those things have a lot of power,_ Gardenia thought. _I can see why she was so confident now._

"Captain Falcon, big finish now! Brave Bird!" Captain Falcon flapped her wings and then took off straight up into the air, building altitude for her attack.

"Not so fast! Roserade, knock it out first with Hyper Beam!" Roserade put her arms together and aimed at the high-flying Captain Falcon, then fired a massive energy beam from them. But as Roserade fired, Captain Falcon dove. Roserade tried to follow Captain Falcon's movements, but she was simply too fast.

Captain Falcon dove straight down toward the ground as a blue aura formed around her. She pulled up only at the last second, turning onto a path that sent her barreling straight toward Roserade. In less than a second, the two collided. The power of Captain Falcon's attack pushed Roserade across the field until they reached the small pond, where Captain Falcon finally stopped. Roserade kept going and skidded across the surface of the water until she hit the ground on the other side and was sent rolling. Roserade's unconscious form finally came to a stop at Gardenia's feet.

"Hehehe! I can't think of a better way to end this match!" Dawn said, grinning widely and resting her hands on her hips. "We should call that technique the Falcon P-"

"That match was quite a bit closer than your match with Roark, wasn't it?" Cynthia said to Dawn, approaching the younger girl now that the match was over. Cheryl followed along behind her. "It seems you might have gotten a bit overconfident this time."

"Maybe just a little..." Dawn admitted sheepishly. "I think some of my pokemon could have been better prepared as well, though."

"I noticed that," Gardenia said as she approached the group. "Your glaceon would have been a bigger threat if it had Ice Beam or Blizzard." She then let out a sigh. "Still, you managed to beat me, so..." Gardenia extended her hand to Dawn, holding a badge and TM disc. "You've earned these. The Forest Badge and the Grass Knot TM."

"Thanks!" Dawn replied as she took the two items. "So... I guess that's it for today?"

"That's right," Cynthia replied, nodding to her. "Accomodations have already been accounted for in the nearby Resort Area. As the name implies, there's no shortage of resorts and fancy villas in the area."

"Sounds fancy," Dawn said. "By the way... why are you here?" she then asked, casting a curious glance toward Cheryl.

Cheryl smiled. "A pleasure to meet you again, too. I came because Gardenia told me about your matches. Of course, I'm also a member here."

"WHAT!" Dawn shrieked, nearly dropping her badge and TM in shock. "You of all people... are a member at the Battleground?"

Cheryl chuckled. "You seem surprised. Is it that hard to believe that I may be a talented trainer that may have been recommended by a gym leader? Of course, we could be discussing this over a drink. Non-alcholic drinks, of course."

"Well, I guess there's no hurry to leave..." Dawn said, then looked at Cynthia questioningly. "Is there?"

"Of course not," Cynthia replied. "Our reservations will be kept even if we're a little late." She then flashed Dawn a smile. "And you're a mature young lady, aren't you? Perhaps a... light drink would still be fine," she said, then proceded to lead Dawn and Cheryl over toward the bar.

"W-wait! Cynthia! Is she even twelve!" Gardenia called out after her, then gave chase. Meanwhile, someone else in the Battleground was starting to feel a little forgotten...

"-You know, if there weren't four walls in my way,-" Captain Falcon grumbled, ruffling her feathers in annoyance. "-You would never see me again after leaving me like this.-"

* * *

Author's Notes: Well. This one is late. On top of the obvious reasons, today just sucked. Seriously, just how many winter storms can we have in the span of a month! This is the third week in a row marred by an intense storm! To say nothing of my mother's antics, still not sure how she managed to reset my router while messing with the lights or whatever it was she was doing...

While writing this chapter I debated a few times having one of Dawn's pokemon managing to score a few victories against Gardenia. Jack Frost, until I decided giving him Ice Beam out of the blue didn't feel right. Axel, but Axel was downed by Torterra. And then Captain Falcon, who only showed up in the end anyway.

The Resort Area will be covered in a later chapter, though probably not the next one. Next chapter will probably only give it a brief mention.


	54. Chapter 53: Ghost of a Chance

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 53**

**Ghost of a Chance**

It was over an hour after her battle with Gardenia ended before Dawn finally left the Battleground with Cynthia, who lead her to the nearby Resort Area. On the way, Cynthia explained to Dawn exactly where she was. The area as a whole was known as the Battle Zone, an area of Sinnoh that was inhabited almost entirely by powerful and successful trainers. The Resort Area was just one area in the Battle Zone, one which was devoted to providing lodging for these trainers.

Cynthia had already made reservations for Dawn to stay at one of the resorts in the Resort Area. For four days, enough time to allow Dawn to battle all eight gym leaders at a rate of two gym leaders every day, Dawn would be staying alone in a private cabin that was a short walk away from the main building. She also had no shortage of luxuries in her cabin - separate kitchen, bathroom, living room, bedroom with a rather large bed. She even had a computer that could make pokemon transfers.

Of course, Dawn didn't really linger there. After spending the night, Dawn had breakfast at the restaurant and then headed straight to the Battleground. She was going to get an early start against her first opponent. On top of that, she had already made arrangements to meet someone else at the Battleground. Someone who was, surprisingly, waiting there as soon as she arrived.

"Isn't this quite the surprise. Not only are you a member at the Battleground, but you've beaten two gym leaders already!" the blue haired woman said when Dawn stepped into the club, then flashed her a smile. "Now I wonder why you waited this long to tell your own mother about such a thing?"

"Umm... didn't think of it until now?" Dawn replied, grinning sheepishly. "Anyway! Did you bring that thing I asked for?"

"Brought them all," Joanne replied, taking out three pokeballs to show to Dawn. "I thought he would like having his family for support, afterall."

"Probably a good idea, it'd make him happy anyway," Dawn said, knowing full well how important a pokemon's happiness could be for its battle capability. She then let out a sigh. "I was hoping to get an early start on my matches today but so far it's only you, me, and the bartender..."

"Well that's fine. I noticed they serve tea here." Dawn's mother then headed over to the bar without another word and sat down on one of the stools. After a brief conversation, the old man put on a pot of tea.

_And here I used to think bars were nothing but alcohol, but this place has just about everything,_ Dawn thought to herself. _But I've already had breakfast, so I'll just wait for Fantina to show up._ Dawn then moved to sit at one of the tables nearest the battlefield, where she would wait for her opponent to arrive. With nothing better to do with her time, Dawn found herself contemplating her strategy for the upcoming match.

_Fantina uses ghost-type pokemon. My team is about as ready for that as it's going to be_, Dawn thought, idly tapping her fingers against the table. _I'm pretty sure I have a defensive advantage at least. Three of my pokemon will be immune to her most powerful attacks, but only one has an offensive advantage. I think I can pull this off type-wise, but I have no idea what kind of strategies she uses. Only pokemon type._

As Dawn thought over her strategy and pokemon, the sound of the club door opening could faintly be heard. Dawn wheeled around, expecting Fantina, then let out a sigh when she saw who it was. "It's just you..."

The blonde-haired boy who entered the Battleground quickly rushed over to Dawn's table and slammed his hands down on her table. "HEY! What's with that attitude!" he yelled at her.

"Nothing, was just expecting someone else," Dawn said quietly, waving him off. "Why are you here, anyway?"

Barry grinned and stood back from the table. "Why else? I'm here to cheer you on!"

"But aren't you planning to challenge the Elite Four too?" Dawn asked boredly. "In a way, that'd make us rivals now."

"Right! But a good rival needs to be on the same level as me!" Barry said, jabbing a finger in Dawn's direction. "And right now you've got two-eight-point-five-seven-one-percent as many badges as me!"

"Two-eight-point..." Dawn mumbled, starting to repeat what Barry said, then shook her head. "Couldn't you just say you have seven badges?"

Barry waved her off. "Too easy! Real trainers need to be able to think!" he said to her. "By the way, Professor Rowan and Lucas are supposed to be-WAH!" Barry yelped as he was suddenly turned around rather roughly by the club's manager.

"I haven't seen you around here before, young man," the old man said gruffly, then held out his hand. "Got a membership card?"

"M-membership?" Barry squeaked. Dawn rolled her eyes. It was fairly obvious now that he didn't realize the Battleground was members-only. It didn't occur to her, though, that someone else's presence there was more suspicious.

"You're required to have a membership here," the old man explained. "If you don't have one I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The old man then grabbed Barry by the arm and started dragging Barry toward the door. Barry struggled, but the old man had a surprisingly firm grip on him.

_Wow. It's like I'm watching my life in reverse,_ Dawn mused. Curious as to how her mother was reacting to the turn of events, having been quiet the whole time, Dawn glanced toward her only to find her mother quietly sipping tea at the bar. _I'm surprised she hasn't said anything..._

Just as Barry and the old man reached the exit, the doors suddenly swung open and Cynthia and Fantina walked in. The two paused at the entrance to observe the situation.

"Oh my! Is there a problem here, monsieur?" Fantina asked the old man.

"This troublemaker tried to get in without a membership!" the old man replied, roughly pulling Barry out in front of the two ladies. "No one gets into the Battleground without a referral from a gym leader, that's the rule!"

"Now, now. He's just here to watch Dawn, right?" Cynthia said, a slight smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "Think you could let him in just until Dawn's matches are finished?"

"Well..." the old man began.

"HEY!" Barry suddenly yelled, interrupting the old man and breaking out of his grip to point a finger at Cynthia. "And just why can't I get a recommendation like Dawn did! I'm better than her! I've already got seven badges! SEVEN!"

"Hmm? Think you're good enough for the Battleground?" Cynthia asked in a playful tone. "Tell you what, then. If you can take down even just two of my pokemon, I'll put in a good word for you, how does that sound?"

"HA! You're on!" Barry replied, a huge grin spreading across his face. "I won't just beat two of your pokemon, I'll beat ALL of them! That's right, Cynthia, I'll whip you in preparation to become Sinnoh's new Champion!"

"Very well," Cynthia said, then turned to Fantina. "Seems I will be missing part of this match, then. Don't feel like you need to wait on me, though. You and Dawn may start right away."

"Of course," Fantina replied, smiling and bowing slightly. "Enjoy your match, madame."

"Oh, I will," Cynthia said, then turned back to Barry. "Now, let's take this outside, shall we?" Cynthia then turned and left the building with Barry quickly following behind. The old man returned to his position behind the bar and Fantina approached Dawn's table.

"My, my! You look quite bored and lonely, here, demoiselle!" Fantina said to her. "Shall I relieve you of your boredom with a pokemon battle?"

Dawn smirked and stood up from her chair. "I've been waiting for that, so you better believe I'm going to say yes!" Dawn replied.

"Tres bonne! Let's take our places, then!" Fantina said. The two girls then did just that. Fantina took up position on one side of the battlefield and Dawn on the other, then both of them took out a pokeball. Joanne, realizing the match was finally about to start, moved to occupy the table Dawn was sitting at and took out two pokeballs to release a pair of buneary.

_And there's the cheerleaders. I'm not going to use him just yet, though,_ Dawn thought. _He's one of my best options against Fantina's ghosts, so I'll send him out later. For now..._

"Auriga, go!"

"Banette, take stage!"

The two trainers released their pokemon onto the field. Fantina's pokemon was the possessed puppet known as Banette, a species of pokemon that Dawn was familiar with from her encounters with Dusk. Dawn also realized rather quickly that her own pokemon was somewhat outmatched, being unevolved, though cranidos had incredible physical strength for an unevolved pokemon.

Unfortunately for Dawn, Fantina was poised to remove that advantage.

"Interessant! No type advantage, but for an unevolved pokemon a cranidos is more powerful than many evolved pokemon!" Fantina said, then extended one gloved hand toward Auriga. "Then, shall we begin? Banette, attack with Will-o-Wisp!"

Banette snickered and stretched out her hands toward Auriga. A circle of small, purple flames formed around Banette and then shot toward Auriga in a line. The flames weaved from side to side, throwing off Auriga's attempt to avoid it, then finally managed to hit Auriga in the side. Auriga growled when he felt the flames make contact, leaving a painful burn on his body.

"So much for that advantage..." Dawn muttered. "Well, let's try taking a page out of Melany's book, then. Auriga, attack with Ancientpower!" Auriga let out a roar as he summoned an ancient power from within himself. The release of this power tore chunks of rock from the ground and launched them at Banette. Banette grunted and staggered back a bit as the rocks bounced off her, but easily shook it off.

"Oh? You're trying special-type attacks instead?" Fantina chuckled. "Then we shall not back down either! Banette, Shadow Claw!" Banette let out a shriek as she charged forward, claws outstretched. Shadows gathered around her hand, extending into longer, sickle-like claws which she raked across Auriga's face. Auriga growled and staggered back, shaking his head.

"It's not like I don't have any better attacks than that, I was just waiting for a good opportunity to use them!" Dawn said to Fantina, a smirk forming on her lips. "Auriga, now! Head Smash!" Auriga stopped shaking his head and focused on Banette, then quickly rushed headlong into the ghost pokemon in one powerful surge. Banette screeched as Auriga's thick skull suddenly made contact with her chest. Even with the burn weakening him, Auriga's Head Smash still packed quite a punch and knocked the ghost pokemon to the ground.

"A powerful technique indeed, even with that burn. It would be unwise to get so close to your pokemon," Fantina mused. "Fortunately, we do not require getting close to attack. Banette, Thunderbolt!" Banette quickly floated up, shaking off another attack. She then stretched out her hands toward Auriga and launched a bolt of electricity, scoring a direct hit. Auriga groaned and collapsed, taken out instantly.

_Auriga might have been able to win that one if it wasn't for the burn,_ Dawn thought as she recalled her fallen pokemon. _Can't be helped I guess. I'll make up for this quickly, then, with Captain Falcon._

Dawn switched pokeballs and quickly called out her pokemon. "Captain Falcon, go!" Dawn held out the pokeball and released Captain Falcon. The bird pokemon emerged in a perched posture on the battlefield. She then wasted no time calling out an attack.

"Captain Falcon, finish this quickly with Aerial Ace!" Captain Falcon quickly flapped her wings and took off, gaining altitude over her opponent. Immediately after gaining altitude, she went into a dive, picking up speed until she suddenly disappeared. She only reappeared when she was slowed down by her beak slashing across the side of Banette's body. Banette dropped almost immediately.

"An interesting choice," Fantina said as she recalled her defeated Banette. "Unfortunately for you, not interesting enough. My Gengar shall demonstrate!" Fantina said, then took another pokeball in her hand and released her next pokemon. A gaseous, imp-like pokemon emerged onto the battlefield with a huge, toothy grin on its face.

"Gengar, Thunder, sil vous plais!" Gengar raised her hands into the air and then made a downward motion with them toward Captain Falcon. This caused a lightning bolt to suddenly shoot down and strike Captain Falcon from out of nowhere. Captain Falcon screeched in agony as the bolt struck her and electricity coursed through her body. Even though Gengar wasn't an electric-type, the attack dealt a heavy blow to her. The bolt left her feathers charred and nearly caused her to collapse.

_Of course she'd be ready for bird pokemon! Normal-type pokemon and ghost-type pokemon counter each other, so a normal and flying-type pokemon would seem like a much better counter to ghosts since they can hit with powerful flying-type attacks!_ Dawn grimaced. _I bet she has all sorts of electric-type attacks on hand..._

"Captain Falcon, don't let one electric-type attack get you down! Retalliate with Brave Bird!" Captain Falcon drew on her last reserves of strength and flapped her wings, raising up higher into the air just as she did with Aerial Ace. This time, however, she dove down more slowly toward Gengar and a fiery blue aura surrounded her body. The two pokemon collided and Gengar was thrown back across the battlefield from the impact, landing on her back, while Captain Falcon crashed into the ground. Gengar managed to slowly get up and shake it off, but Captain Falcon stayed down.

"We landed a good hit anyway..." Dawn mumbled as she recalled Captain Falcon, then quickly swapped Captain Falcon's pokeball for another from her belt. "Assassin, just a little more!" Dawn called out as she pressed the button. Assassin quickly materialzed on the field. "Attack with Night Slash!"

"Oh my! Now this one is trouble!" Fantina said, chuckling to herself. "Gengar, shall we damage it a bit with Focus Blast?"

Gengar cupped her hands and began gathering aura while Assassin quickly made her way across the field. Gengar, of course, made the first hit. Thrusting her hands out, Gengar launched a massive blast of energy at Assassin. Assassin cried out as the blast engulfed her. The mass of energy briefly shrouded Assassin from view. Assassin was able to endure the attack and suddenly shot out toward Gengar and slashed her as she moved past. At first, there was no reaction, as if Assassin had missed somehow. Gengar then suddenly groaned in pain and collapsed, clutching her stomach.

"Things seem to be moving quite quickly, non?" Fantina said to Dawn, recalling her Gengar and then taking another pokeball in her hand. "Then without delay! Drifblim!" she then called out, releasing a familiar balloon-like ghost pokemon from its pokeball. The ghost pokemon wobbled slightly as it emerged floating low over the battlefield.

_A drifblim? I don't think that poses much threat to Assassin, aside from the nasty way it tends to explode when defeated,_ Dawn thought. The command Fantina would then call out would set Dawn even more at ease.

"Drifblim, begin with Stockpile!" Fantina commanded. Drifblim began to gather energy, her body expanding as it was stored within her.

_Setting up, huh?_ Dawn smirked. "Okay, Assassin, let's set up some Toxic Spikes on their side of the field, then!" Assassin nodded and began spinning her arms around, launching spike after spike across the field until Fantina's side of the battlefield until half the Battleground's battlefield was covered in a layer of poisonous spikes.

Despite such a potentially annoying technique being used on her, Fantina could only smirk as she called out another attack. "Continue using Stockpile, Drifblim!" Drifblim continued to gather energy upon her trainer's command, body expanding as it built up inside her.

_Again? Is she planning to attack with Spit Up?_ Dawn wondered, eyes narrowing in suspicion. _She must be expecting me to set up another layer of toxic spikes so she can keep buffing and then unleash a powerful attack on Assassin. In that case..._

"Assassin, use Night Slash now!" Dawn called out. Assassin rushed forward and raised both her front clawed-tipped arms, then brought them down toward Drifblim in an 'x'. Assassin's attack perfectly lined up with the yellow 'x' on Drifblim's face. Drifblim screeched and then suddenly burst open across that 'x', releasing a massive blast of energy at Assassin that flung her onto her back. Assassin had managed to land a powerful critical hit, aided by her Sniper ability, fainting Drifblim in one blow.

Dawn whistled appreciatively at the result of Assassin's attack. "Not going to complain about that. Better than being hit by a full power Spit Up, at least."

Fantina sighed as she recalled Drifblim. "It seems luck was not on our side today. What a terrifying ability..." Fantina clipped Drifblim's pokeball to a belt around her waist, then took another one in her hand. "Mismagius! You will have to avenge her now!"

"Mismagius, huh?" Dawn smirked. "As good an opportunity as any! Assassin, good job but you can take a break now!" Dawn said, then recalled Assassin. She quickly swapped pokeballs, taking in her hand the pokeball given to her by her mother.

"It's been a while, but now it's your turn to shine! Bridget, take the field!" Dawn called out and then pressed the button. The pokeball in her hand opened and out came a small, pink rabbit pokemon. It didn't stay like that, though, as the pokemon that emerged soon began to glow and grew to almost four feet tall. And if one thought Bridget looked pretty girly before, the sight of the curvy, feminine-looking pokemon he evolved into would confuse people even more.

"Bridget evolved?" Dawn said in disbelief, then took out her pokedex to check out Bridget's evolved form.

"-Amazing, isn't it?-" Bridget said with a sly smirk on his face. "-A little time away from you and life couldn't be better! But enough talk! I'm itching to kick some ass today!-"

"Incroyable! I certainly wouldn't have expected that one to evolve so suddenly!" Fantina said, speaking as if she knew the pokemon. "But enough talk! Mismagius, disable it with Confuse Ray!"

"Not so fast!" Dawn called back. "Bridget, Magic Coat!" Mismagius launched a sinister light at Bridget, aiming to confuse him, but Bridget wasn't going to have any of it. Not in front of the two buneary that were now shouting words of encouragement to him from the sidelines. Bridget's body suddenly flashed and that ball of light was deflected back at Mismagius. It swirled around her before it finally struck, leaving her confused.

"Oh dear! I did not expect that either!" Fantina said in shock. "Mismagius, perhaps a Thunderbolt is in order then?" Mismagius wobbled back and forth in the air, confused about what she should do next. She began gathering electricity in her body, but then suddenly shot toward the ground as she tried to attack. She quickly bolted back up, shrieking in pain as she had landed on a few of the toxic spikes left by Assassin.

"Tough luck for you, since that gives us an opening for this! Bridget, Foresight!" Bridget narrowed his eyes and focused, identifying Mismagius to ensure she couldn't phase out against his attacks. "Now let's go on the attack, Bridget! Return should be pretty powerful now!"

Bridget grinned. "-It's time to kick ass and chew poffin! And I'm all outta poffin!-" He then leapt toward Mismagius and launched a flurry of punches at her, letting his feelings drive his attack. Mismagius was pushed back further and further until one last punch knocked her into the ground again. Bridget then deftly hopped back, avoiding any of the toxic spikes.

"We shall not be defeated without any accomplishments!" Fantina said determinedly. "Mismagius, Pain Split!" Mismagius's eyes flashed and a hard red aura surounded both pokemon. Bridget winced, feeling pain coursing through his body as the difference between his and Mismagius's remaining strength was equalized.

"What an annoying technique..." Dawn muttered. "Nevermind that, though. Bridget, another Return should finish this!" Bridget nodded eagerly and leapt upon Mismagius again. He delivered a flurry of powerful punches to the ghost pokemon, ending the attack with a kick that both knocked her out and propelled Bridget back to Dawn's side of the field to avoid the spikes.

"Mismagius was quite outmatched it seems," Fantina said, shaking her head sadly as she recalled her pokemon. She then quickly switched pokeballs. "But!" She focused a determined gaze on Dawn as she pressed the button to release her final pokemon. "Never give up! Never surrender!" As she said this, the pokeball opened and a Dusknoir emerged onto the field and flexed its powerful-looking arms. It, too, looked pretty determined. The fact that the lower part of its body was touching toxic spikes didn't even seem to faze it.

"We shall hold out for as long as we can!" Fantina said. "Dusknoir, use Double Team!" Dusknoir focused and crossed her arms. Her body shimmered, then suddenly split into several false images. Each one looked identical to the last, making it impossible to tell which was the real Dusknoir just from looking.

"Bridget, you've done enough for now! Return!" Dawn said, recalling Bridget and ignoring the dirty look he gave her. She knew Bridget wanted to keep fighting, and Dawn herself could feel the aura of the real Dusknoir among the fakes, but Dawn had better options for dealing with a Double Team strategy. There would be other opportunities for Bridget, afterall.

"Eggman, your turn now! Let's make this last one count!" Dawn called out, releasing Eggman from his pokeball. Eggman took several jabs at the air when he appeared, showing off a bit. _It doesn't matter what she does now, Eggman will end this match for sure,_ Dawn thought.

"Hmm? I wonder what you're planning with this one?" Fantina said curiously. "Well, we shall not wait to find out! Dusknoir, Rock Slide!"

"Not so fast!" Dawn shouted back. "Eggman, Encore!" Before Dusknoir could attack, Eggman began clapping his hands. Applause suddenly erupted throughout the battlefield, as if Dusknoir had an entire audience applauding him. This encouraged Dusknoir to use Double Team again, creating more false images of himself, rather than attack with Rock Slide.

"Curieux..." Fantina mumbled. "And what will you follow up with, now that your attacks are unlikely to hit?"

Dawn smirked. "With an attack guaranteed to hit, of course! Eggman, use Shock Wave!" Eggman nodded and brought his hands together, focusing, then parted them and released an electric shockwave in all directions. The fake Dusknoirs were unaffected by it, but the real Dusknoir couldn't avoid it. She grunted as she was struck by the relatively weak blast of electricity. The shock caused the fake Dusknoirs to suddenly vanish.

"Enough." Fantina let out a sigh and took Dusknoir's pokeball in her hand. "It seems we are unable to win, mon ami, so please rest now," she said, returning her pokemon. With a slight smirk, she then turned her gaze to Dawn. "Well played. With the poison already draining her strength, your pokemon would have only slowly chipped away at her health until her defeat. There was no chance at victory for my Dusknoir."

"I'm surprised you'd forfeit even then. What happened to 'never give up, never surrender'?" Dawn teased her.

"It seems I surrendered in the end afterall," Fantina said, shrugging helplessly. "But no matter, you have earned the relic badge." Fantina took out a badge and TM disc and then crossed the battlefield. Dawn recalled Eggman and then met Fantina in the middle to receive her badge.

"The relic badge huh..." Dawn mumbled to herself, eying her new badge. "So that's three down, five to go." She then turned to the seating area to see who had been watching her match. Her mother and the two buneary were present, as was one new arrival. Ashley was now seated at one of the tables, sipping a cup of tea.

"Hey... where is everyone?" Dawn asked the individuals present. "I figured everyone would be here before this match was over!"

"They're outside," Ashley called back. "They wanted to watch Cynthia's battle out there." Ashley took another sip of her tea and then set the cup down and looked at Dawn curiously. "By the way, why isn't your togetic evolved?"

"Oh... I'm not sure how, really," Dawn sheepishly. Ashley thought that over, but didn't press the issue any. "Anyway, I'm going to go outside and see what's going on then..."

"I shall join you," Fantina said. The two of them then left the building.

* * *

Just outside the Battleground there was now a decent crowd of familiar faces gathered. Melany and Rina, whom Dawn would have expected to be with Ashley, were standing nearby. As were Lucas and Professor Rowan, having arrived during Dawn's match. Barry and Cynthia were there too, of course. Cynthia with her garchomp standing next to her and Barry sitting on the ground a fair distance away with a defeated look on his face.

"Man... I couldn't even beat one of her pokemon..." Barry mumbled dejectedly. "Just too powerful..."

"Now don't be too upset, you did get a few decent hits in on some of my pokemon afterall!" Cynthia said to him, wearing her usual smile on her face. She turned when she heard the Battleground door's opening and saw Dawn and Fantina walk out. "Finished your match, I see. I suppose there's no point asking how it went?"

"Naturally, madame," Fantina replied, flashing a smile in return. "Though I believe she may have exceeded even your expectations!"

"How interesting," Cynthia smirked and then turned to the professor. "You certainly know how to pick them, don't you?"

"Pure coincidence, I assure you," Professor Rowan replied. Melany and Rina exchanged glances at this.

"No Maylene yet?" Dawn asked Cynthia. Cynthia shook her head.

"I doubt she'll be much longer, however," Cynthia said.

"In that case, there's something I'd like to talk to Dawn about." Dawn turned with a start when she heard who was addressing her and saw Lucas walking up to her.

"Lucas?" Dawn blinked in disbelief. "Umm... what would that be, then?"

Lucas looked around and then shook his head. "Not here. There's something I need to confirm for myself, so could you come to the pokemon center with me?"

Dawn blinked in confusion at Lucas's request and then nodded slowly. Lucas then started off toward the pokemon center without another word and Dawn followed behind them. Everyone watched, especially Barry whom seemed to have a gleam in his eye and waited until they were out of earshot.

"Lucas and Dawn, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-gah!" A pikachu suddenly landed on Barry's head as he began his chant, knocking him over.

"-Not even remotely,-" Pippi said, nodding confidently from her position on top of Barry's head. "-Believe me, I know!-"

* * *

Author's Notes: Phew! On time this week! Well, unless you live somewhere that's two hours ahead of me. But then I'd probably be late to such individuals most weeks. Besides, I think the majority of the internet is actually an hour behind my fairly unique timezone...

And a third badge from Dawn, which included an appearance and evolution from a pokemon that's not usually part of Dawn's team but far from forgotten. Incidentally, apparently the game designers really had anticipated people using Normal/Flying pokemon against Fantina at the Battleground. Her Banette has Thunderbolt, Mismagius has Thunderbolt, Dusknoir has Rock Slide, and Gengar has Thunder. 4/5 pokemon have something to hit flying-type pokemon with. Yeesh...

Hope Fantina's french was a bit better (and a bit less overused) this time around. Really though, I've been using Google's translator for the french, so feel free to shoot me anyway. Of course, tossing words from another language into your speech often doesn't mesh too well anyway if you ask me...


	55. Chapter 54: A Melee With Maylene

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 54**

**A Melee With Maylene**

"Geez... asking me something like that all of a sudden..." Dawn muttered to herself, biting her bottom lip as she quickly typed away at the pokemon center's PC. She wasn't finished with Lucas yet. In fact, he was waiting just behind the center for her. Before meeting up with him again, though, Dawn wanted to get her team ready for her next match. After transferring one last pokemon, Dawn took the pokeball that appeared next to the PC and logged out.

"That's that. Guess I should go meet up with Lucas now," Dawn said to herself. She then hurried out of the building and made her way around back, to where Lucas was waiting for her. Little did she know, someone was spying on her from a tree next to the center. Once she was out of sight, Barry dropped down from the tree accompanied by a pikachu and stealthily approached the corner of the building to listen in.

"Now we'll find out for sure what they're up to!" Barry said to the pikachu, making his best attempt at keeping his voice to a whisper. It was a miracle that neither Lucas nor Dawn noticed.

"-I'm just here to confirm for myself,-" Pippi said quietly. Of course, she was also curious to see what would happen if Barry was indeed right.

"Are you ready now?" Lucas asked Dawn. Barry and Pippi made shushing motions to each other.

"Yeah, but I'm still not really sure about this..." came Dawn's reply.

"Don't worry, this won't take long," Lucas assured her. "Here, I'll take mine out first."

_Take his out first? What's he talking about?_ Barry wondered.

"Huh, it really is still small..."

"I already told you I need your help with that!" Lucas snapped back at Dawn.

"H-hold on! What are those two...?" Barry wondered aloud.

"-Oh, is this maybe some kind of human ma-mfph!-" Pippi was suddenly silenced as Barry clamped his hand around her mouth.

"Well, I guess it's my turn now," Dawn said.

After a brief pause, Barry heard Lucas saying, "Hmph. Feels like it's been a while since I've seen that weird pink thing." For him, that was the last straw and he suddenly jumped out into view.

"JUST WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TWO... " Barry's outburst came to a screeching halt as he finally saw for himself what was going on. Lucas and Dawn were both staring at him now, looking mildly annoyed by his sudden appearance. As was Mesprit, the 'weird pink thing' Lucas had been referring to. A piplup was present as well, standing next to Lucas, but was entirely unfazed by Barry's appearance. "...doing?"

"We're trying to help my piplup here," Lucas replied, narrowing his eyes at Barry and folding his arms. "Just what did you think we were doing?"

"Err... n-nothing important!" Barry replied sheepishly.

Lucas shrugged. "Moving right along then..."

"Right," Dawn nodded. "Anyway, I think I can handle this much, even though it's my first time doing anything like this..." Lucas quirked an eyebrow at Dawn's choice of words and Barry slapped his hand against his forehead.

"She's definitely doing it intentionally now..." Barry muttered to himself.

"-I don't even get what the big deal is...-" Pippi said, then shrugged. "-Oh well. I've proven my point anyway. These two aren't even remotely interested, not like Rina and Red anyway.-" Pippi then turned and left, running on four legs back to the Battleground.

"So, Mesprit, is Lucas right? Did you take away his piplup's emotions?" Dawn asked Mesprit. Mesprit put a finger to where its mouth would be and examined Lucas, then his piplup.

"-Yes, I can vaguely recall sealing a piplup's emotions,-" Mesprit said to Dawn. "-It attacked me while I was playing with you and Barry, so I gave it what was coming to it.-"

"Ah... well... could you un-give it that? Please?" Dawn asked.

"-If that's what you wish,-" Mesprit replied, though there was some bitterness in its tone over it. Mesprit floated over to piplup and placed each of its two tails on either side of Pips's head. The gem on Mesprit's forehead flashed and suddenly Pips's eyes showed much more expression. First surprise, then anger.

"-YOU!-" Pips growled, jabbing one fin in Mesprit's direction. "-Do you have ANY idea how much trouble you've caused me!-" he said accusingly. "-I've been absolutely worthless because of you! WORTHLESS! Me, a proud, noble piplup, WORTHLESS!-"

"-Can I just de-emotion him again?-" Mesprit asked Dawn. Dawn folded her arms and shook her head.

"This was pretty inevitable," she said to Mesprit. Pips opened his mouth to yell some more, but Lucas finally recalled him at that point.

"I'm sure he'll calm down," Lucas said reassuringly, though Dawn could feel that Lucas wasn't too impressed with the condition his piplup had been in either. She even caught a glimpse of Lucas glaring at Mesprit slightly.

_I guess I can understand why Lucas would be upset, too,_ Dawn thought. _If his piplup hadn't gone through that, then he'd probably have another powerful and fully evolved pokemon in his arsenal._

"Though, thinking back to that time," Lucas said, looking to Barry and Dawn. "You both seemed really incompetent back then." Both trainers cringed at Lucas's scathing remark.

"HEY! We were both just starting off that time!" Barry shot back, clenching a fist. "And we're a lot better now!"

"Obviously. You wouldn't have gotten gym badges otherwise," Lucas replied. "Even so, you two seem to have improved pretty quickly. It's only been... what? Weeks since you first left?"

Dawn shrugged. "Who keeps track of these things? Anyway, speaking of gym badges, I should probably get back now."

"Right," Lucas nodded, then glanced over at Mesprit. "Going to use that one against Maylene? A psychic-type would be good against her fighting-type pokemon."

"But it'd hardly be fair sending out a legendary pokemon against a gym leader," Dawn pointed out. "Especially one they're at a disadvantage against."

"I suppose. But it's not against the rules," Lucas said, then shrugged. "Well, let's head back then."

* * *

The three trainers quickly returned to the Battleground, which was only a short distance away. Everyone was already seated when they got there. Professor Rowan was at a table for four, along with Joanne and Cynthia. Fantina stayed to watch the next match and was sitting one table over with, of all people, Crasher Wake, who had arrived to watch Maylene's battle. Melany, Ashley, and Rina were all at another table. To Wake's dismay, Barry headed straight over to his table, while Lucas took the last seat at the professor's table.

That left only Dawn and Maylene. Dawn headed straight to the battlefield when she got inside and took up position on the right side of the field. Across from her, Maylene was already waiting. However, she didn't seem to notice Dawn's arrival and was seated in a meditative pose.

_So maybe she's meditating?_ Dawn thought, then decided to try calling out to her. "Maylene?" No response. She tried again. "Maylene?" Again, no response, so she tried yelling. "MAYLENE!"

"Wh-wha!" Maylene cried out, finally snapping out of her trance. "I-I wasn't asleep! I swear I..." Maylene stopped and blinked a few times, finally realizing where she was.

"Oh... umm..." Maylene blushed and fell silent.

"Nevermind that, are you ready for our battle?" Dawn asked her, ignoring the fact that Maylene was clearly asleep rather than meditating.

"Right!" Maylene replied, adopting a determined expression as she quickly got back up on her feet. "Dawn, I've been looking forward to this ever since Cynthia requested an official gym match at the Battleground." Maylene bowed respectfully. "I look forward to a good match with you."

"Right," Dawn replied, nodding in agreement. She couldn't help noticing that Maylene was being much more respectful about it than the other gym leaders. While none of them seemed disrespectful, Maylene seemed to approach it with a certain sense of honour. "Shall we get started then?"

"Of course!" Maylene replied eagerly, then took out a pokeball. "Hitmontop, you shall lead off the match!" Maylene sent out her pokemon and Dawn was shocked by what she saw. While a three-legged, humanoid fighting pokemon wasn't too unusual compared to some pokemon out there, the fact that it was standing on its head and spinning constantly was.

_Weird. Especially for a fighting pokemon,_ Dawn thought. She stared at the spinning pokemon for a moment longer before finally drawing a pokeball.

"Chika! Go!" Dawn called out, pointing the pokeball at the small pond and releasing the fish pokemon into the water. Chika materialized below the surface but quickly rose up to face her opponent. The sight of the spinning pokemon startled her a bit, to say the least. With Chika, though, Dawn was confident she could gain a terrain advantage over her opponent.

"Chika, let's attack from the water! Water Pulse!" Dawn called out. Chika responded by firing several blue rings of water. The rings shot out across the pond, crossing the battlefield and striking the spinning Hitmontop. Hitmontop wobbled slightly but was able to maintain its balance.

_What a well-balanced pokemon,_ Dawn thought, blinking. _Well, let's see if it'll even be able to attack Chika while she's in the water._

"Hitmontop, strike with Quick Attack!" Maylene called out to her pokemon. Dawn raised an eyebrow.

_She can't be serious, can she?_ Dawn thought. _Surely her pokemon is just going to sink?_

Hitmontop tilted and began moving toward the pond, spinning more and more rapidly as it approached. When Hitmontop reached the edge of the water it suddenly shot off at an incredible speed, skimming across the surface of the pond to Dawn and Chika's utter disbelief. Hitmontop slammed into Chika, knocking her to the edge of the pond, and kept going to finally push her out of the water and onto the shore.

"Don't let up! Triple Kick and don't let up!" Maylene then called out, taking advantage of Chika and Dawn's confusion to continue their assault. Hitmontop straightened up and started spinning rapidly again, then leaned slightly so its feet could reach Chika. All three of Hitmontop's feet struck Chika in rapid succession, pinning her to the ground.

_Not good! She has Chika locked in a combo!_ And a really cheap one at that! Dawn thought. _We need to break out of this!_

"Now, finish with Close Combat!"

_Yeah, definitely breaking out of this!_ Dawn thought with a grimace. "Chika, Surf!" Hitmontop stopped his attack briefly to move in closer to Chika, giving the water pokemon just enough of an opening to make her counter attack. Chika summoned a wall of water from underneath her, drawing from the pond, then sent it rolling toward Hitmontop. Hitmontop was swept up by the water, having zero chance to react, and swept out into the pond. Chika immediately followed, hopping into the water herself.

"Good! Our turn to take control now! Whirlpool!" Dawn called out. Chika gave an enthusiastic nod and then focused her power, creating a whirlpool around Hitmontop. Out of the water, the technique would create a swirling column of water not unlike a tornado. But in the pond, the effect created an actual whirlpool which immediately pulled Hitmontop under. Hitmontop swirled down and down until he was trapped at the bottom of the whirlpool.

"Hitmontop, break out of it with Rapid Spin!" Hitmontop put all his strength into spinning in the opposite direction of the whirlpool, trying to move against it. It didn't seem to be working at first but, before long, he was slowly starting to move up the side of it.

"Not so fast! Chika, Bounce into a collapsing Waterfall!" Chika quickly leapt clear of the water and then dove straight down into the whirlpool, mirroring Dawn's attempted 'water drill' against Roark. As Chika fell into the whirlpool it began collapsing around her, causing the water from the pond to rush in and suddenly submerge Hitmontop. To add further injury, Chika dove straight down through the water to slam into Hitmontop and knock him against the bottom of the pond. That hit was the last straw as Hitmontop's unconscious form then floated up to the surface.

"This round goes to you then," Maylene said to Dawn as she recalled Hitmontop, then quickly took out another pokeball. "My next pokemon should get better results, however. Breloom, go!" The pokeball opened and, from it, a fighting mushroom pokemon emerged. It seemed like yet another odd pokemon for a fighting-type to Dawn, due to it's small hands, but she could tell Maylene was pretty confident in it.

"Chika, good job! You can take a rest now!" Dawn took out Chika's pokeball and recalled her, then took another pokeball in her hand. "Elincia, your turn now! Go!" Dawn held out the pokeball and released her pokemon, sending Elincia out into the battle. The bee queen pokemon appeared hovering over the field with her arms crossed.

"-Hmph. I certainly seem to be battling a lot lately...-" Elincia mumbled to herself.

"Grass and fighting... so let's start with Toxic, Elincia!" Dawn called out. Elincia shrugged. Tilting her abdomen, she fired a blob of poison at Maylene's Breloom. The poison landed on Breloom's lower body with the mushroom pokemon making no effort to dodge the attack. In fact, it didn't seem to be in any pain from the poison at all.

"Sorry, Dawn, but you can't hurt a Breloom with poison. Poison will just heal it!" Maylene explained with a smirk. Dawn was mentally kicking herself now, though there was no way she could have known. She wasn't particularly familiar with the species.

"Now, Breloom, Spore!" Maylene's Breloom countered with her own status now, turning and wagging her tail at Elincia. Powerful spores were released into the air, quickly surrounding Elincia. Just landing on her was enough for the spores to take effect and Elincia quickly dropped, fast asleep.

"We'll finish this one right away, so attack with Stone Edge now!" Maylene called out. Breloom summoned her strength, which was immense given the pokemon's stature, and stomped the ground. A large, sharp rock suddenly shot up from the ground under Elincia, launching her into the air and propelling her across the field. She hit the ground only a few feet away from Dawn.

_One mistake and Elincia's pinned helplessly against the ropes,_ Dawn thought in dismay. _Maylene's pretty good... I'll definitely have to be on my guard from now on._ Dawn then felt Elincia's aura stirring, a sign her pokemon was waking up, and smirked. _Still one chance left to take out Maylene's pokemon..._

"A second attack should finish this. Breloom, use Stone Edge again!"

"Elincia, Destiny Bond, now!"

Elincia slowly, weakly raised her head to get a look at Breloom and a dark aura surrounded both of them as their fates became entwined. It was too late for Breloom to stop her attack, though, as her foot was already coming down. Hitting the ground hard, it caused a sharp rock to shoot out of the ground under Elincia and launch her into the air again. She landed in the corner of the battlefield this time, completely unconscious. This caused Destiny Bond to become active and suddenly all of Breloom's strength was drained from her as well, leaving both pokemon unconscious.

"You must be quite observant to have noticed your pokemon was about to wake up," Maylene said to Dawn as the two of them recalled their pokemon. Maylene then took another pokeball in her hand and pressed the button, releasing her next pokemon. "Medicham, go!" she called out, releasing a rather fragile-looking fighting pokemon onto the field. Of course, at this point, Dawn knew better, but based on appearance alone Medicham didn't look like a pokemon that was very strong physically.

"Something like that," Dawn replied. After briefly eying Medicham, Dawn took another pokeball in her hand as well. "Bowser, you're up now! Go!" she called out, releasing a rather massive pokemon by comparison. Bowser appeared on the field and slammed his feet down hard, announcing his presence.

A smirk crossed Maylene's lips when she saw Dawn's choice of pokemon. "A poor choice again, Dawn! Medicham, use Ice Punch!" Medicham leapt high into the air, showing her surprisingly strong physical capabilities right off the bat. Bowser braced himself for impact but it did little to help. Medicham came down upon him, fist first, ice coating her hand like a glove.

Medicham's fist connects with Bowser's face with incredible force, the ice shattering to cause immense damage to Bowser. Bowser groaned in pain, staggering back before falling onto his side. That wasn't the end for him yet, though, as a green glow surrounded his body and more leaves suddenly grew from the tree on his back. The activation of Overgrow gave Bowser the strength to quickly get back on his feet, ready to make a counter-attack.

_Even though her pokemon isn't an ice-type, that attack had a lot of power!_ Dawn thought in disbelief, noticing that it had already dealt enough damage to Bowser for Overgrow to become active. _Need to finish this in one move then... but I don't want to leave Bowser open to another attack. Good thing Bowser has no shortage of high power attacks._

"Bowser, finish this in one move! Leaf Storm!" Dawn called out. Bowser let out a roar and angled the tree on his back toward Medicham. Every single leaf on that tree suddenly shot off, hitting Medicham with a powerful barrage of swirling leaves at nearly point-blank range. There were so many leaves that Medicham briefly disappeared from sight as she was swallowed up by the storm. When the leaves finally passed, Medicham was left lying unconscious on the ground. Though she had a powerful offense, her defenses was much less impressive. The battlefield itself was left covered in leaves, which were already rapidly regrowing on Bowser's tree.

"Good comeback! I thought for sure I had you!" Maylene says to Dawn. "But your torterra took a harsh blow, so my next pokemon will finish it off." Maylene then took a pokeball from her belt. "Machamp, go!" she called out, releasing a four-armed fighting-type pokemon onto the battlefield. Dawn recognized this one, of course. Not only did she have her own machamp, but she was present when Maylene's evolved.

"Machamp, finish this one now! Dynamicpunch!"

"Bowser, let's try to get back in this! Giga Drain!"

Machamp raised one of its four hands back and charged across the field. As Machamp ran, energy slowly began to seep out of his body and move into Bowser's body, healing some of the damage that had been done to him. By the time Machamp reached Bowser, the power boost from Overgrow had faded due to the drawn energy which was still flowing out of Machamp. The Giga Drain attack finally ended when Machamp slammed his fist into Bowser's face, creating an explosion upon impact that stunned and confused him. Leaves grew on Bowser's tree again as Overgrow reactivated.

"Bowser, shake it off and attack with Seed Bomb!" Dawn called out. Fortunately for her, it would seem Bowser would get off at least one more attack in spite of his confusion as he opened his mouth and fired several explosive seeds. They came at Machamp from nearly point-blank and exploded against his chest, throwing him to the ground.

"That pokemon of your's is pretty resilient, but this is where it ends!" Maylene said confidently. "Machamp, finish it with Dynamicpunch!" Machamp reared a fist back, closed the small gap, and smashed Bowser in the face with another explosive punch. Bowser staggered back and collapsed, and Dawn immediately recaled him.

"You might have taken Bowser out, but Captain Falcon will finish the job!" Dawn said as she drew another pokeball and released her next pokemon. Captain Falcon appeared on the field, looking rather confident. And with good reason, of course. Everytime she entered battle during Dawn's challenge thus far it had been to finish an opponent with Brave Bird. So she had a pretty good track record so far.

"Captain Falcon! Finish this with Brave Bird!" Dawn called out, just as Captain Falcon had expected. Captain Falcon flapped her wings and took off, flying up into the air until she neared the ceiling. She then dove down toward the ground to pull up at the last second, a fiery blue aura forming around her.

Dawn grinned to herself as she watched Captain Falcon fly. _I never get tired of watching this!_

"Machamp, Stone Edge!" Maylene called out almost at the last second. Dawn thought for sure there was no chance of Maylene's pokemon hitting before Captain Falcon's attack hit. Especially with her current speed. But when Machamp stomped the ground, a giant rock spike suddenly shot up from the ground almost directly in front of Machamp and was timed just right to slam into Captain Falcon with inches between him and Captain Falcon. The attack struck her hard and launched her straight up. She came crashing back down in front of Captain Falcon.

"Wh-what!" Dawn uttered in shock. "No way... she countered it!"

"Sorry, but Machamp has this one too!" Maylene said to Dawn. "Machamp, Dynamicpunch!"

_No way! We have to take this one out!_ Dawn thought. "Captain Falcon, Quick Attack into the air now!"

Captain Falcon pushed herself up and summoned her strength, then shot up in a blur of movement just as Machamp was delivering his punch. Captain Falcon's body managed to just barely graze his arm as she flew over his shoulder and quickly gained altitude.

"Now let's use Aerial Ace this time!" Captain Falcon pulled a quick u-turn in the air and dove down toward the ground at high speed. When she pulled up she gained a sudden, immense burst of speed and briefly vanished from view. When she reappeared, she was slashing across Machamp's side. Machamp groaned in pain and collapsed, finally going down.

"Machamp was defeated too... but he still dealt quite a harsh blow to your pokemon," Maylene said as she recalled returned the pokeball to her belt and then took another one, firmly grasping it as she held it out. "So it comes down to this. My last pokemon. I might be in a bit of a bind here, but this is not the end!" Maylene pressed the button on her pokeball. "Lucario!" The pokeball opened and out came Lucario, Maylene's final pokemon.

"Captain Falcon, get in there and attack with Close Combat!" Dawn called out without missing a beat. She was eager to get this last confrontation over with.

"Lucario, strike back with the same!" Maylene called out, moving equally quickly.

With that, both pokemon surged toward each other, getting into melee range and attacking. The pokemon became a flurry of hands, feet, wings, claws, and the occassional beak slash. One pokemon would attack, the other countering with its own attack. Lucario's foot would be blocked by Captain Falcon's claw, and Captain Falcon's wing caught by Lucario's hand, though each landing the odd attack. The two were practically an equal match, Lucario's power and focus making up for Captain Falcon's speed as well as Lucario's own defensive weakness to fighting-type attacks.

Eventually, though, Lucario gained the upperhand. Captain Falcon just didn't have the strength left to keep up the attack. With one final punch to the beak, Captain Falcon went down, though not without leaving Lucario fairly winded as well. When Captain Falcon hit the ground, Dawn quickly recalled her.

"Guess this is my last pokemon too, then," Dawn said as she switched Captain Falcon's pokeball for another one from her belt. "I still have Chika too, but this is the last one that hasn't fought yet at least. So let's go! Kabula!" The pokeball in Dawn's hand opened and out came the ghostly balloon pokemon, Kabula, floating low over the field.

"A ghost and flying type. A good type combination against fighting pokemon, but not against Lucario," Maylene said to Dawn. "Lucario, show her! Use Dark Pulse!" Lucario cupped his hands and then thrust them out toward Kabula, releasing a spiralling blast of black and purple energy. Kabula screeched as the blast struck him, feeling immense pain from the dark energy.

_Saw that coming,_ Dawn thought in dismay. "Kabula, get closer while using Stockpile!" Kabula wobbled slightly in a sort of a nod, then began gathering energy in his body while slowly floating toward Lucario.

_What does she think she's doing? Her intention is obvious with a move like that!_ Maylene thought to herself. _She must intend to get in close and use Explosion, but with Lucario's speed that simply won't happen. We will keep our distance and continue attacking with Dark Pulse. Even with Stockpile, her pokemon will be worn down eventually._

"Lucario, don't let her pokemon get any closer. Stay away from it and keep blasting with Dark Pulse." Lucario nodded, body tensing. As Kabula neared, Lucario took several quick hops back and fired another pulse of dark energy at Kabula. With the defense increase from Stockpile, Kabula could endure the attack better and tried to keep moving. But Lucario simply hopped back again and fired another Dark Pulse, further whittling down Kabula's strength. All the while, Kabula was storing more and more energy in his body until finally he couldn't store anymore.

_Time to make my move now!_ Dawn thought with a smirk. "Kabula, fly straight up!" Kabula stopped moving and then started to slowly rise up. Lucario quirked a brow at this sudden change in tactic but quickly followed up with yet another Dark Pulse. Kabula winced as the pulse struck him, starting to feel pretty weak now from the constant barrage.

Maylene furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. _NOW what is she planning? _she wondered. Meanwhile, Lucario was getting ready with another Dark Pulse.

"And this is where we end it, Kabula! Spit Up!" From above, Kabula launched a massive blast of energy, releasing all the energy he had built up within his body, while Lucario fired another Dark Pulse from his hands. Lucario's Dark Pulse was completely overwhelmed by Kabula's attack, however, and the energy blast completely engulfed Lucario. It was incredibly powerful and, even though Lucario could resist the attack with his steel typing, he was left lying in a crater when the attack ended.

"-Wait a second... I won!-" Kabula said, blinking in disbelief and staring at Lucario's unconscious form.

"I see... I ignored the obvious choice of action due to her initial orders..." Maylene said, letting out a sigh. She recalled Lucario and clipped his pokeball back on her belt. "It seems you have won, then, with two pokemon remaining. Though, you must admit, it was a fairly close match."

"I was a bit worried that last attack wouldn't work," Dawn said, letting out a sigh of relief. "Kabula, good job. You can rest now." Dawn recalled Kabula and was then approached by Maylene, who was holding a badge and a TM disc in one hand.

"I admit defeat. You're really strong, Dawn," Maylene said to her, then handed over the badge and TM. "Here's the Cobble Badge and Drain Punch TM." Maylene then stepped back and bowed. "It was a great battle. You've earned these."

"Thanks," Dawn replied, taking the two items. "Well I guess this is it for the day then, though it feels like I'm finishing up kinda early..."

"Then why call it quits!" Crasher Wake suddenly bellowed as he stood up from his table. Dawn had almost forgotten he was there during her match. He now stood with his hands on his hips and a huge grin on his face. "The day's not over yet, and the battlefield's still in pretty good shape!" Wake then raised a hand and pointed a thumb toward himself. "You're not finished yet! I'm up next!"

* * *

Author's Notes: A lot more dialogue pre-match in this chapter I think. Incidentally, Maylene is actually the strongest gym leader at the Battleground. The levels of her pokemon are all one higher than the rest of the trainers you battle there, and she gives slightly more money than the rest. Why? Beats the heck out of me!

Next chapter I hope to have more post-battle dialogue than pre-battle. In fact, I should be jumping straight into the battle from the start so we'll see how that goes.


	56. Chapter 55: Clash With Wake

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 55**

**Clash With Wake**

"Go Wake! Go Wake! Go Wake!"

"Shut up Barry," Dawn and Crasher Wake said in unison, then turned to each other. The two trainers stood on opposite sides of the battlefield, already set to battle.

"Ignoring him... let's get this battle underway, shall we?" Wake said to Dawn, a wide grin spreading across his lips. He then grabbed a pokeball from a belt around his waist. "I'll go first! Ludciolo, let's flood the place!" Wake held out the pokeball he grabbed and pressed the button, releasing a dancing-mexican-pineapple-duck pokemon onto the field.

_These people are always looking for new ways to weird me out,_ Dawn thought. Shaking her head, she quickly grabbed a pokeball as well. "Eggman, you're up first! Go!" she called out, releasing her egg fairy from his pokeball. Eggman eyed Ludicolo curiously when he appeared, tilting his head from side to side.

"-Weirdo...-" Eggman muttered. "-I'm going to attack your weakpoint for massive damage.-"

"Ludicolo, head to the bottom of the pool and start using Hydro Pump!" Crasher Wake called out. Ludicolo responded by prancing across the battlefield until he reached the pond and then jumped in. Ludicolo quickly disappeared beneath the surface of the pond, heading to the bottom.

"What did he do that for?" Dawn wondered, then shook her head. "Nevermind. Eggman, use Shockwave and aim for the pond!" Eggman flapped his tiny wings and rose up into the air, then moved out over the pond. Eggman then released a blast of electricity in every direction, aiming the shockwave at the pond. Electricity dispersed through the water, but it was impossible to tell what kind of an effect it had on Ludicolo - if any.

"This is kinda annoying..." Dawn muttered. "Just what is that Ludicolo doing down there anyway? I can feel it doing something down there but..." Dawn stopped, suddenly realizing that something was up. Focusing her gaze on the pond, she noticed the water level appeared to be rising. Within seconds, water was starting to flow across the battlefield.

_So that's his plan? To flood the battlefield?_ Dawn thought. _But what good will that do? The water is just going to spill out into the rest of the club..._

Despite Dawn's misgivings, the water continued to spread out across the field, slowly nearing the edge. Just when it seemed the water would spill over, a barrier suddenly rose up around the perimeter of the battlefield. It rose up to just over three feet, keeping the water inside as it continued to flood the battlefield.

_I guess they were prepared for this, then?_ Dawn thought, raising an eyebrow. _This is going to be a tricky battle if he's going to turn the entire battlefield into a shallow pool then. Though it's amazing to think that a Ludicolo can put out so much water. Then again, a single Hydro Pump attack tends to use more water than any water-type pokemon I've seen should even be able to hold..._

"Whaddya think?" Wake asked Dawn, grinning to himself. "Before long, my pokemon will have the field advantage! Think you can do anything to stop that?"

_Probably not, but I sure can try!_ Dawn thought. "Eggman, let's try to do just that! Attack with Magical Leaf!" Eggman nodded and raised his arms, materializing several sharp leaves around him. He then fired the leaves straight down into the water. Dawn then closed her eyes and cleared her mind, trying to sense even the most subtle change in Ludicolo's aura. To her dismay, she couldn't. It seemed as though Ludicolo was simply too far down for the leaves to reach him and cause any damage.

Dawn opened her eyes and grimaced. _Shock Wave is getting dispersed way too much to reach Ludicolo, and Magical Leaf loses too much of its strength trying to get through the water. Guess there's no choice then..._

"Eggman, let's spin the wheel! Metronome!" Eggman raised his arms into the air again and began to wave his fingers back and forth. This had a peculiar effect on the pokemon as it resulted in Eggman using an attack completely at random, and possibly one of the most useless attacks he could use as he opened his mouth and shot a small fireball at the water. This produced a small puff of steam and not much else.

_Well that... didn't help any,_ Dawn thought. _I bet that barely even... heated... _Dawn's thoughts trailed off and she found herself staring at the spot where Eggman's Ember attack hit the water. An idea was starting to form. It was a long shot, but it was all she had. The battlefield was still filling with water, afterall, and she couldn't come up with any other ideas to reach Ludicolo.

"Eggman! Aim a Heat Wave at the water and don't let up!" Eggman raised an eyebrow, failing to see Dawn's logic. Afterall, water was strong against fire. However, he complied anyway and starting flapping his wings, sending blasts of superheated air and waves of fire at the water. A thick cloud of steam began to rise from where the fire hit.

"Hmm? What's that kid up to now?" Wake wondered aloud.

As the water level continued to rise, already more than halfway up the barrier, Eggman kept on the attack. Flames and hot air blew against the water, clouding the battlefield with steam. Though it still didn't seem to be having any effect, before long the water began to bubble and boil. Even then, the water was still rising, but Dawn could feel the boiling arena having an effect on Wake's Ludicolo.

_It's taking a while, but I'm actually getting him!_ Dawn thought, a slight grin spreading across her face. Wake was just looking across the field at her with a confused look on his face, not having the same knowledge that Dawn did.

"I see you're boiling the water... but do you really think that's actually going to have any effect on Ludicolo?" Wake asked Dawn.

"Yeah, I'm pretty confident in this tactic," Dawn replied, feeling Ludicolo steadily weakening as the water continued to boil. Wake wasn't convinced his Ludicolo wouldn't be able to withstand the attack. Before long, however, an unconscious Ludicolo finally floated to the surface admist the boiling, flooded battlefield and Eggman finally stopped his attack. Wake couldn't help but laugh as he recalled him.

"So ya really did beat my Ludicolo with that move! But I bet my boy was pretty tired just from spewing out so much water, too," Wake said to Dawn, then gestured to the battlefield. "But in the end I still got a good three feet for my remaining pokemon. Even if it's a bit on the hot side now."

_He's right! I was too slow beating his Ludicolo!_ Dawn realized.

"Now it's time for my next pokemon to take to the water!" Wake said, taking another pokeball in his hand. "Sharpedo!" The pokeball opened and a red beam fired out, materializing into a pokemon that was half submerged in the heated water, leaving only the top half of its body and the ever so symbolic dorsal fin exposed.

Dawn's body shook nervously when Wake released his pokemon. A sharpedo! He has a sharpedo! She thought. She had heard all about sharpedo. They were fast, attacked anything that wandered into their territory, and a single sharpedo was capable of sinking an oil tanker. Oceangoing vessels made it a point to avoid waters where sharpedo roamed unless they were specifically prepared to deal with such a threat. It seemed like a pokemon that a villain would use rather than a gym leader.

"I see you recognize this guy!" Wake said with his trademark grin. "Don't worry, this boy's tame." Wake let out a hearty laugh and his pokemon growled a bit. "Alright, now! Sharpedo, bring down her pokemon with Ice Fang!"

Sharpedo took off across the water at incredible speed and then leapt out of the water as he neared Eggman. His mouth opened in midair, revealing his sharp teeth coated in a layer of ice. The ice around his teeth shattered when they snapped around Eggman's body, causing Eggman to cry out in pain. Sharpedo then dragged Eggman down into the water before finally letting go of him. Both pokemon surfaced separately.

_This is bad. It'll be hard to get out of the water, especially with Wake's Sharpedo still nearby,_ Dawn thought. _Seems like our only option is going to be to attack in the water now..._

"Eggman, use Shock Wave!" Dawn called out, hoping to hit Sharpedo hard while still in the water. Eggman focused and then released a blast of electricity throughout the water. There was no chance of Sharpedo avoiding the attack as the water suddenly became electrified, sending a powerful shock through the shark pokemon's body. Unfortunately, being in the water as well, Eggman couldn't avoid taking a powerful shock himself. Eggman cried out and then suddenly fell silent, fainting. Dawn quickly recalled him.

"All things considered, Eggman still did a pretty good job," Dawn said to herself, then drew another pokeball. "Considering the pokemon, though, I think I'll use this one! Bowser, go!" Dawn held out the pokeball toward the field and released Bowser into the water. He quickly looked around, confused to find himself on a familiar battlefield and yet completely surrounded by water.

"-Uh, I'm probably the furthest thing from a plumber, but I think you guys have sprung a leak,-" Bowser said.

"I wonder what you were thinking choosing a pokemon like that?" Wake asked Dawn. "Sharpedo, get in there and attack with Ice Fang!" Sharpedo quickly darted in toward Bowser to attack and circled around until he found a good angle to attack from. Eventually it tried to bite Bowser's head, but Bowser moved slightly to take the bite to the shoulder instead. Sharpedo bit down on Bowser with ice-coated teeth, though the heated water helped reduce the impact.

"Bowser, finish it quickly with Giga Drain!" Dawn called out. Bowser growled and began absorbing Sharpedo's lifeforce out of its body. Sharpedo immediately recoiled and let go of Bowser's shoulder, then turned and tried to flee. However, he took off unusually slowly and then suddenly stopped. The last of his strength had been drained from him and his unconscious form rolled onto its side.

"Ah well, easy come, easy go!" Wake said as he recalled his Sharpedo. "You definitely won't defeat my next pokemon easily, though!" Wake took another pokeball in his hand and held it out proudly. "You're about to face another superpowered terror of the sea! The mighty Gyarados!" Pressing the button, the pokeball in Wake's hand opened and released a gargantuan, serpentine pokemon into the water. Gyarados emerged with its body coiled and mouth hanging open as it stared down at Bowser.

_That's not a pokemon I want Bowser fighting,_ Dawn thought, but then a small smirk slid across her lips. _But before I recall him, there's just one thing I want Bowser to do..._

"Bowser, use Earthquake!" Bowser quickly stomped the ground, sending a shockwave throughout the battlefield that caused the ground to crack and shake. Gyarados's body simply floated up a bit to avoid the attack, an action that was barely noticeable due to the water surrounding him. This changed when suddenly the water level began to rapidly decrease until less than a foot remained, at which point everyone watching the battle received a slight reminder of Gyarados's status as a flying serpent as it now hovered mere inches above the water.

"Haha! Not bad! So much for my advantage then!" Wake said, grinning. "But we can fight without it anyway! Gyarados, Avalanche!" A chill was felt throughout the battlefield as Gyarados prepared to attack. He then rushed toward Bowser as small hailstones began to swirl around his body, increasing in size until he finally collided with Bowser and sent those hailstones smashing into Bowser with the collision. Bowser grunted and staggered back, splashing through the water. A green glow surrounded Bowser's body but Dawn quickly recalled him after that, reasoning that she may need him later.

"That's enough for now, Bowser!" Dawn called out as she recalled him, then put his pokeball back on her belt and took another one in her hand. "Okay, you're up now Conker!" Dawn held out the pokeball and released Conker into the water, seemingly an odd choice as even what little water remained came up rather high on Conker's small body. The water was bad enough, but Conker was rather shocked when he then found himself staring up at a rather massive blue serpent.

"-I almost get the feeling this is a terrible mismatch,-" Conker said to himself. "-Almost.-"

"Your electric pokemon is at a bit of a disadvantage here, don't you think?" Wake asked Dawn, a slight smirk on his face as he wondered what she would do next. "Better think fast! Gyarados, Aqua Tail!"

"Always! Conker, Quick Attack! Jump on Gyarados and then take to the air!" Gyarados raised his massive tail, water swirling around it, and then brought that tail crashing down toward Conker. Conker easily evaded the attack, moving toward Gyarados's main body in a sudden burst of speed and climbing on. From there, Conker jumped straight up into the air.

"And now to make sure you stay up there! Conker, Magnet Rise!" Conker grinned and threw out his arms, sending a current of electricity coursing around him. This generated a magnetic field that kept Conker suspended in the air over Gyarados.

"HAHAHA! Not bad, not bad!" Wake said, laughing heartily. "But I'm not about to run from a little electricity! Gyarados, bring it down with Twister!" Gyarados let out a mighty roar, releasing a mystic power from his body that created a torrent of swirling air around Conker. Conker cried out as the swirling air sucked him in and started dragging him down.

"Conker, don't give in! Take Gyarados out with Thunderbolt!" Conker grimaced from the strain of trying to focus in his current situation. Focusing on Gyarados, his cheeks began to spark just as the twister was bringing him down to eye level with the mighty serpent and a bolt of electricity shot out from him. Gyarados roared in pain as the bolt travelled through his body and the twister suddenly stopped, allowing Conker to fly freely again. He quickly flew back up, wanting to distance himself from the serpent a bit, even though it now looked as if it were ready to collapse and ceased floating to rest its body in the water below.

Dawn, of course, could sense just how weakened Gyarados was and had other ideas. "Conker, now's your chance! A Quick Attack will finish this!" While Gyarados was still recovering, Conker shot through the air in a burst of speed and smashed into his head. Gyarados groaned and threw his head back, then collapsed onto his side splashing water everywhere. Wake quickly recalled him.

"Heh... Gyarados are pretty powerful, but being so weak to electric-type attacks doesn't do them any favors that's for sure," Wake said, then took another pokeball from his belt. "This one is much better suited to fighting electric-types! Quagsire, go get 'em!" The pokeball Wake held opened and from it came a pokemon that managed to look even dopier than a Bibarel. A large, fat, blue salamander pokemon appeared in the water with a stupid-looking grin on his face.

"I think we can take this one too," Dawn said dryly when she saw the pokemon. It was pretty clear it was a ground-type pokemon, but Conker already had an answer for that. "We still have the aerial advantage!" Dawn called out, to which Conker nodded in agreement. "Conker, Super Fang!" Conker then took off into a shallow dive toward Quagsire, mouth open and fangs starting to glow.

"Think again! Quagsire, Mud Bomb!" Quagsire's cheeks suddenly bulged and he raised his head toward the incoming squirrel pokemon. With little distance left between them, Quagsire opened his mouth and launched a giant ball of mud at Conker. Conker ended up caught inside the ball of mud, which dropped into the water and exploded, coating Conker in a layer of mud and turning the surrounding water brown and murky. Conker was barely recognizeable as he emerged from the muddy mess, trying to shake it off.

"Projectile ground-type attacks... wasn't thinking about those..." Dawn muttered, taking Conker's pokeball in her hand. "Conker, good job, but you can rest now!" Dawn called out, recalling Conker and then quickly switching pokeballs. "Bowser, your turn again! Go!" Then, the swapped pokeball opened and a red beam fired out to the field that materialized into Bowser. The tree on his back was more full than usual, courtesy of his Overgrow ability.

"Bowser, finish this one in one move! Leaf Storm!" Dawn called out, confident Bowser could easily defeat this pokemon. Bowser leaned forward slightly to angle his tree toward the Quagsire, then fired. Every leaf on Bowser's tree swirled out toward Quagsire, engulfing him in a storm of leaves. Quagsire disappeared completely in the swirling mass and was left unconscious in their wake, battered and bruised by the powerful barrage.

"Hoo boy..." Wake mumbled as he recalled his pokemon. "Sometimes I wonder if having pokemon so weak to types already effective against water-type pokemon is a bad idea..."

"It is for gym leaders," Dawn said to him.

"Well this is my last pokemon now!" Wake said as he took his final pokeball in hand. "We're backed into a corner, but even that won't stop us!" Wake then pressed the button and the pokeball opened up. "Floatzel, go! Time to make our comeback!" A red beam shot out from the pokeball and materialized into an orange, twintailed otter that looked like it was wearing a floatation device. Strangely, that wasn't all that this particular pokemon was wearing. Like his trainer, Floatzel was wearing a luchadore mask.

"Like pokemon, like trainer I guess..." Dawn mumbled to herself. "Well, let's start off by healing a bit! Bowser, Synthesis!"

"Not so fast! Floatzel, time to finally take this one down! Ice Fang!"

Bowser started absorbing light to heal himself, but Floatzel was upon him in no time. With Floatzel's speed, he quickly crossed the field. As the gap between him and Bowser closed, Floatzel opened his mouth and dove toward Bowser. Ice formed around Floatzel's teeth and shattered when they snapped shut around the base of Bowser's neck. Bowser hadn't regained enough strength to endure the attack and collapsed quickly. Floatzel quickly released Bowser and stood up straight, grinning as he stood over his fallen foe.

"Too fast for Bowser then..." Dawn muttered as she recalled Bowser, then took another pokeball in her hand. "Well Conker can still take this one on! Conker, go!" Dawn aimed the pokeball toward the opposite side of the field, due to how close Floatzel now was to her. This left Conker briefly confused when he appeared facing Wake, but he quickly turned around.

"Your pachirisu has already taken a lot of damage, so Floatzel's going to finish this easy! With Aqua Jet!" Floatzel nodded and drew up water around him, then dove into the shallow water that remained covering the battlefield and skimmed across the surface at incredible speed.

There's no way Conker can attack in time, but I've got a plan! Dawn thought. "Conker, get ready with Spark!" Conker charged electricity around himself, sending a current through the water as well. He never got the chance to make an attack as Floatzel rammed into him first, but with the electricity around Conker it gave him the equivalent of the Static ability. Conker was knocked out almost instantly but the electric shock that went through Floatzel's body inflicted him with paralysis. This time, Floatzel could only grimace when he stood up to look down at his opponent. Floatzel then stepped to the side as Dawn recalled Conker.

"Conker lost quickly too, but that sets things up for my next pokemon..." Dawn said to herself. She clipped Conker's pokeball to her belt and then took another one in her hand. At the time, she thought it might be an odd choice of pokemon to bring into the match but was hoping she would be able to take advantage of the water with it.

_Looks like taking this pokemon was a good idea afterall,_ she thought, then pointed the pokeball toward the field. "Jack Frost, come on out!" she called out. The pokeball opened and out came Jack Frost. When he appeared in the water it began to turn to ice around him almost instantly, but only for a few inches around him and the ice was easily broken when Jack tried to move his legs.

"-Well isn't this nice?-" he grumbled as he pulled one leg free. "-I'm starting to hate water...-"

"An ice-type, huh? Interesting choice!" Wake folded his arms and grinned. "Well, let's see what you're going to do with this pokemon then! Floatzel, trap it with a Whirlpool!" Floatzel extended his claws and then jabbed them into the water. A ripple passed through the water until it reached Jack Frost, where the water suddenly started to rise and spin, forming a towering whirlpool around him. The swirling action kept the water from turning to ice, keeping it pelting Jack's body repeatedly.

"Jack Frost, Dig!" Jack Frost nodded and quickly began digging, soon disappearing below the battlefield. The whirlpool focused on the spot where he was continued sucking up water, keeping it from flooding the hole Jack was digging into.

"Interesting... Floatzel, let's get ready to counter with a Crunch attack." Wake's Floatzel nodded and gritted his teeth. His eyes scanned the battlefield warily, watching for any sign of Jack Frost. It didn't help any as Jack Frost suddenly burst out from under him and knocked him off his feet. Floatzel hit the water, splashing Jack. He immediately tried to get back up but, with his body still affected by paralysis, his movements were slow.

"Keep on the attack, Jack! Icy Wind!" Jack Frost turned to Floatzel and unleashed a blast of intensely cold air at him, almost instantly freezing the water on and around him. The water freezing made it even harder for Floatzel to get up as he now had to break free of the ice as well as he was standing. It still wasn't long before he had one arm free.

"Focus on the other arm, Jack!" Dawn instructed him. Jack Frost opened his mouth and released another blast of cold air, aiming at the arm that was still trapped. The ice around it thickened and strengthened, making it harder for Floatzel to pull himself free.

"Floatzel, use your free arm to break free! Don't let her pokemon hold you down!"

"Jack Frost, time to finish this! Signal Beam!"

Jack Frost broke the ice around his left arm with his free hand, finally freeing himself and gaining enough strength to quickly stand up. It was only to be knocked down again, though. A spiralling beam of light, fired from the gem on Jack Frost's forehead, struck Floatzel in the face just as he stood up. It struck hard and dizzied Floatzel, knocking him off his feet. He was down again, but not completely out of it.

"Then I guess we'll just have to attack while lying down! Floatzel, Water Gun!"

"Jack Frost, this is definitely it this time! Mirror Coat!"

Floatzel turned to Jack Frost and spat a quick burst of high pressure water at him, which struck like a gunshot. Some of the water froze and stuck to him, covering his face in a bit of frost. Jack Frost's body flashed in return and a blast of energy shot out from him, blasting Floatzel. Floatzel grunted and was knocked flat, this time losing consciousness as the last of his strength left him.

"Darn... it was a good try, though..." Wake said remorsefully as he recalled Floatzel, then rubbed the back of his head. "But you know, I really didn't want this to end! It was fun! I want more!"

"Then demand a rematch!" Barry yelled, slamming his hands against the table. He then angrily pointed a finger at Dawn. "You cheated, Dawn! I'm fining you ten million for that!"

"Didn't you beat him too?" Dawn asked, raising an eyebrow. Barry cringed and quicky sat down again.

"Even so... I still..." Barry mumbled. Wake just shook his head and then started to make his way around the edge of the battlefield.

"Jack Frost, you did great out there! You deserve a rest!" Dawn said to Jack, taking his pokeball in her hand.

"-Yeah, I definitely feel good about that win!-" Jack Frost said, grinning to himself as Dawn recalled him. By that point Wake had finally reached her as well and held out his hand to her.

"Here you go!" he said to her. "The Brine TM and, more importantly, the Fen Badge!" Dawn took the items in her hand and looked at them, noting the disc in particular.

_I should probably start using some of these,_ she thought before putting them away. She then glanced toward the battlefield. "Guess this time I'm definitely finished for today..."

"Darn right you are," a voice grumbled as the old man running the bar approached them. "Fixing this won't be easy. I will need until at least noon tomorrow to fix this up. Until then, I will be closing the Battleground. You will all have to leave."

* * *

With everyone forced to leave the Battleground, it seemed like it was time for them to call it a day and head back to the Resort Area. Most of the trainers went back to their hotel rooms, including Dawn's mother who had her own room now as well.

Dawn, however, wasn't quite ready to go back to her room yet. Instead, she decided to explore the resort area a bit. In particular she decided to check out the villas, curious to see what kind of places the richer trainers were staying at. While going up a set of stairs to one particular villa, she came across a silver haired man that seemed to be pondering something.

"What am I going to..." she could hear him mumbling as she passed by. He stopped speaking when he noticed her and watched as she came to a stop to get a good look at the large, white villa that stood before her. The two stood in silence for a moment, a smirk slowly crossing the man's lips before he finally approached Dawn.

"What do you think?" he asked her. Dawn blinked and quickly turned around to face him. "It's a nice place, isn't it?" he asked, flashing her a grin.

"Well it doesn't look too bad I guess. Is it your's?"

The man chuckled and ran his fingers back through his hair. "You could say that," he said. "Perhaps I should introduce myself? My name is Steven." The man, Steven, then extended a hand to Dawn. "A pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Dawn," Dawn replied, reaching out to shake his hand. Steven quirked an eyebrow when she told him her name.

"Dawn you say... hmm..." Steven looked at her, then at the villa again. "You know, I really have no use for this place anymore. My business in Sinnoh is finished, but I need to do something about this." He flashed her a grin again. "Perhaps you would be interested in owning it?"

"N-no, I definitely couldn't afford..."

"I'm not selling it. I'm giving it away."

Dawn fell silent. She couldn't believe what she just heard. This man was GIVING a villa away! It was almost too good to be true. And she just happened to be in the right place at the right time to get such an offer? It was almost as if...

"Should I take your silence as a no?" Steven asked her.

"OF COURSE I WANT IT!" Dawn suddenly yelled. Steven chuckled.

"Of course," Steven said, then reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved a set of keys. He then handed the keys off to Dawn. "Enjoy your new villa."

* * *

Meanwhile, outside one of the hotels, Melany was outside sitting on a bench and messing with her pokenav.

"Dawn's pokemon are getting pretty tough..." Melany mumbled to herself. "Hard to believe, but at this rate..."

A whistling sound pierced the air suddenly as an arrow hit the spot on the bench next to Melany, jolting her out of her thoughts. She looked at the arrow and then scanned her surroundings, looking for her attacker. She didn't see anyone around, but when she looked at the arrow again she noticed a piece of paper tied to the arrow. Raising an eyebrow, she removed the arrow from the wooden bench and untied the paper from it. There was a note and a crudely drawn map on the paper.

"You are hereby challenged to a pokemon battle, one on one. Meet me at the specified location in fifteen minutes. Signed, Ninja M." Melany sighed and stood up from the bench. "Guess I'll have to ponder Dawn's abilities later. Apparently I'm being challenged by a ninja. Joy."

* * *

Author's Notes: Taking a break from the gym battles next chapter to focus on a few other things. Namely Dawn's new villa and Melany's mysterious challenger. Just who could this 'Ninja M' possibly be! Find out next week, assuming you don't figure it out before then!

You may also take this time to ponder the ridiculousness of a 11-year-old girl owning her own villa. While I can justify, or try to justify, some of the things kids do simply by saying "different world, different rules", I think this might be pushing it a bit.


	57. Chapter 56: Villas and Ninjas?

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 56**

**Villas and... Ninjas?  
**

Dawn stood back with her hands on her hips and a huge grin on her face as she admired her newly obtained villa. The villa had two floors, with doors on the top floor that lead out onto the roof. On a nice day, she could set up lawn chairs there almost as if it were a balcony. There was also an outdoor pool, a redstone pathway leading up to the villa, and a small garden on either side of the building.

And it was all her's.

"Umm, dear, where did you manage to get yourself a place like this?" Joanne, standing next to Dawn, asked her. "Surely you couldn't have bought something like this? It'd be far too expensive..."

"Oh, some guy with silver hair gave it to me," Dawn replied. "Said his name was Steven..."

"Steven was it? Hmm..." another woman's voice said as Cynthia, too, was with Dawn outside of her new villa. After obtaining her new villa Dawn was all to eager to inform her mother, who was with Cynthia at the time. Thus both women accompanied Dawn to see the villa.

"But why on Earth would anyone give away..." Joanne let out a sigh and rubbed her forehead. "Nevermind..." she said, then turned to Dawn. "So what will you do with your new villa? And did he leave you furniture as well?"

"Nope," Dawn replied. "I looked already. There's just a table and, conveniently enough, a mail-order catalogue for a furniture company."

"Maybe he owns the company then..." Joanne mumbled to herself in consideration. "Well, if you want, I suppose you could always move your things here, but don't you think this is a little... big for a young girl to live all alone in?"

"Not at all!" Dawn replied. "I'm sure I'll find a use for all the space and extra rooms. And it's not like I'd actually be alone, I have my pokemon afterall."

"True," her mother said, conceding the point. What was really bothering her, though, was her daughter now was seemingly more well off than she was. Forcing a smile, she turned to her daughter and gestured toward the villa. "May we take a look inside, then?"

"Not at all!" Dawn replied cheerfully. She stepped up to the door of the villa and opened it, then grestured inside. "Come on in!"

"Well, so long as we're being invited..." Cynthia said, then she and Joanne walked into the villa. Dawn followed and closed the door behind her. Immediately inside was a white hallway and the only area of the villa with any furniture in it. In the hallway, next to a flight of stairs, was a table. On that table was the previously mentioned catalogue and a phone. A quick glance in the connected rooms revealed that they were, indeed, empty.

"This doesn't seem like much of a place to spend the night, Dawn," Joanne said after glancing into what would presumably be Dawn's new living room. "No bed to sleep on or anything... you'd be better off staying at the hotel until you get some furniture."

"I wasn't planning to spend the night here anyway," Dawn replied with a shrug. "Not tonight, at least. Like you said, I'd need furniture. Appliances. I mean, I'd be without anything to eat, really..."

"With the way you're progressing as a trainer, you'll probably be able to buy new furniture before long," Cynthia said to Dawn. "You already have five badges. Once the battlefield is ready I'm sure you'll be able to get another two easily enough. But that last one..."

"Will be the hardest, right?" Dawn nodded to herself. "That's always how it goes."

"No, you see..." Cynthia began to say but stopped herself and shook her head. "Nevermind. With any luck, that issue will be resolved by tomorrow..."

Dawn blinked. "Umm... okay..."

"Speaking of which, we should head back to the hotel so you can get some sleep," Joanne said to Dawn. "Assuming, of course, this is all you wanted? For us to see your villa?"

"You could sound more amazed, you know!" Dawn shot back. "I got a villa! FOR FREE!"

"That IS pretty amazing but, shocking even, but you've also fought and captured legendary pokemon and are well on your way to challenging the Elite Four," Joanne said. "How should I put it? You're already pretty amazing..."

"Well..."

"Your mother makes a good point. A free villa is quite amazing, but it's a more... down-to-earth kind of amazing compared to other things you've done," Cynthia said, flashing a smile. "Now let's head back so we're all ready for tomorrow."

Conceding the point, Dawn left the villa with Cynthia and Joanne. After locking the doors so no one could break in, they all headed back to the hotel for the night.

* * *

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Battle Zone, Melany had set out to meet the mysterious ninja and arrived on an island in the middle of Route 230. She directed Skarmory to set down in the middle of the island, then dismounted and looked around.

"Don't see this ninja anywhere," she mumbled, then chuckled to herself. "Of course not. They're a ninja, right? I bet it's hiding in plain sight..."

"Then you're smarter than you look!" a girl's voice suddenly called out. Melany looked around, still seeing nothing, but then a figure rose out of the tall grass. The girl was garbed entirely in black, leaving very little exposed. Even most of her face was covered, though the disguise was very much ruined by the girl's hair which had to have slits cut on either side for the almost wing-like style. "I have been waiting for you here the entire time!"

"What?" Melany blinked. "Okay, May, what are you doing in Sinnoh and especially dressed like that?"

"I... I'm not May!" the ninja shot back, then pointed a finger at Melany in an overtly dramatic fashion. "In fact, I have no idea who this May person even is!"

"Right..." Melany rolled her eyes. "You wanted a battle, right? Mind at least telling me why I'm being dragged all the way out here to battle a... ninja?"

"Because I feel like I owe you a beating!" the ninja shot back.

Melany scratched her head. "Not that I'd want you to try it, since I couldn't fight to save my life, but wouldn't it make more sense to just try to beat me up then instead of challenging me to a battle?"

"I'll keep that option in mind!" The ninja then slid her hand down to her waist, where she was wearing a belt of pokeballs on the outside of her costume. She grabbed one of them from her belt. "But enough talk! Now it's time for our pokemon battle! And you better not hold anything back!"

"I get it, I get it!" Melany replied, drawing a pokeball as well. "Skarmory, you might want to move aside."

"-By which you obviously mean I won't be battling even though I'm already here?-" Skarmory shot a sharp glare at Melany. "-If you need me... I'll be over here,-" he muttered, then moved off to the side to keep out of the way of the two trainers.

"Rhyperior! I choose you!" Melany called out, bringing her pokeball forward and releasing her pokemon. A massive, powerfully built rock pokemon appeared in the tall grass. Rhyperior let out a growl and flexed her massive arms.

"A poor choice for you!" May called back as she held out her own pokeball. "Vaporeon, go!" The pokeball in her hand opened and Vaporeon, the water-type evolution of eevee, emerged.

"I suppose this match would seem to be in your favor then," Melany said, then smirked slightly. "I wonder if that's just luck or if you pulled a ninja-like pokeball switch without me noticing?"

"Oh, be quiet!" May growled. "Vaporeon, attack with Hydro Pump!" Vaporeon quickly went on the attack, opening his mouth and firing an immense, high-pressure blast of water at Rhyperior. Rhyperior grunted as the stream of water struck her and crossed her arms to try to defend herself. The water had a lot of power behind it but Rhyperior's immense bulk kept her in place.

"Well I thought it was funny..." Melany muttered. "Rhyperior, set up a Sandstorm!" Rhyperior growled and flexed her arms, then smashed her fists together. Sand swirled outward from her body, enveloping both pokemon in a sudden sandstorm.

"A sandstorm isn't going to help your pokemon any!" May said to Melany. "With a rock and ground typing, water-type attacks are especially effective. Even your Rhyperior won't be able to withstand a second attack!"

Melany smirked. "Well go ahead and use Hydro Pump again and finish this if that's the case."

"We'll do just that!" May replied determinedly. "Vaporeon, you know what to do!" Vaporeon nodded. Squinting at Rhyperior's figure in the sandstorm, Vaporeon took aim and opened his mouth. A massive, high-pressure stream of water fired out toward Rhyperior. The attack managed to land a glancing blow on Rhyperior's shoulder, dealing minimal damage before Rhyperior simply stepped to the side. The sandstorm was throwing off Vaporeon's aim a bit.

"She lured me into that one," May grumbled under her breath.

"Yep!" Melany replied with a grin. "Now let's really strike back and finish this in one go! Rhyperior, Horn Drill!" Rhyperior's horn immediately began spinning like a drill, which she lowered and then quickly charged across the field toward Vaporeon.

"Not so fast!" May yelled back. "If Hydro Pump won't work, we'll use Ice Beam instead and take out her Rhyperior before it can attack!"

"-I won't let that attack hit me!-" Vaporeon declared, then opened his mouth and fired. A blue beam fired out from Vaporeon's mouth and grazed across Rhyperior's shoulder and back. Ice formed across her body and then shattered, the shattering ice causing her to collapse and skid to a stop.

"That was close, but your Rhyperior didn't really stand a chance!" May said triumphantly and folded her arms in front of her.

Melany shrugged. "She shouldn't, really," she said as Rhyperior suddenly began to move again and her drill horn started to spin. "But you don't quite seem to be on top of your game today, May, so Rhyperior is going to be finishing this." As soon as Melany finished speaking, Rhyperior got back up and quickly closed the remaining gap between her and Vaporeon. Vaporeon tried to move out of the way, but only ended up exposing his flank to her. Vaporeon cried out sharply as Rhyperior's horn struck and grinded against the side of his body. Vaporeon quickly collapsed after being struck. The drill threatened to tear into him, but Rhyperior stopped after Vaporeon fainted.

"I... I don't understand..." May stuttered in disbelief.

"And that is why... you fail." May shot Melany a glare at her remark and then quickly recalled Vaporeon.

"I'm not ending this battle after just one pokemon! Especially not with your Rhyperior as weak as it is!" May said to her, then drew another pokeball. "Altaria, your turn now!" she called out, releasing the cloud-winged dragon pokemon into the tall grass.

"I won't be using Rhyperior against this one. Rhyperior, that's enough for now!" Melany said, holding out a pokeball and recalling Rhyperior. She then quickly swapped pokeballs and released her next pokemon. "Swellow, your turn now!" Melany called out, releasing her green-feathered Swellow to combat May's Altaria.

May smirked. "A pokemon like Swellow has no chance at withstanding my Altaria's new attack. My pokemon have picked up a few new tricks since arriving in Sinnoh!"

"Swellow, use Double Team!" Melany called out. Swellow focused and then spread out his wings as he suddenly split into multiple duplicate images of himself. Five images in total, standing in a v-shaped formation. May gaped at the duplicates and then glared at Melany.

"Maybe you should have just attacked instead of bragging?" Melany suggested with a shrug. "But, hey, you could try your attack anyway and hope you hit the right one."

"I'm not about to be goaded into wasting a second attack!" May yelled back. "So let's see your pokemon deal with this! Altaria, Perish Song!" Altaria raised her head to the sky and sang a terrible song, causing Swellow to cringe as he felt the impending doom.

"Have a pretty good way of dealing with that, actually," Melany said, holding out Swellow's pokeball again. "Swellow, enough for now. Return!" The pokeball opened and Swellow was drawn back inside, causing the fake Swellow's to instantly disappear.

"Playing that way, huh?" May said, taking Altaria's pokeball in her hand as well. "Altaria, that's it for now, then!" she called out as she recalled Altaria and then looked to Melany expectantly. "Well, your move now."

_Really wish I knew what this was all about, but May won't even admit that it's really her under that poor excuse for a disguise. Need to drag that out of her first somehow,_ Melany thought. She then glanced down at her pokeballs. _Maybe one of my pokemon could help in that regard..._

Melany quickly drew a pokeball to finally call out her next pokemon. "My move, huh? Then this is my move!" Melany held out the pokeball and pressed the release button. "Sceptile, go!" The pokeball opened and a red beam shot out, materializing into Sceptile. Sceptile appeared in a crouching position, arms crossed, as he always seemed to.

"Sceptile, huh? In that case..." May drew a pokeball from her belt and yelled, "Go Blaziken!" The pokeball opened and Blaziken emerged into the grassy field, letting out a loud screech to announce his presence before sliding into a fighting stance.

Melany smirked. "An interesting choice of pokemon, isn't it?" she asked May.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"If you recall, the first time we battled, our pokemon were in their second stage evolutions and fought each other then. It was close, but Combusken won even though I won the battle. Then, when you were filling in for your father, my Grovyle managed to end the fight with Combusken, and the battle, in a draw."

May blinked in confusion. "Wait, so are you saying you're going to lose this time but your Sceptile is going to beat my Blaziken? And shouldn't that have happened during the grand prix if that's the case?"

_She might actually have a point there,_ Melany thought, then shook her head. "No, the point I was trying to make from that conversation was that you ARE, in fact, May. Not that anyone else would wear their hair like that."

"WHAT WAS THAT!" May yelled, clenching a fist. "Why don't you come over here and... say..." May's anger trailed off into silence as Melany's words finally sank in, realizing now that she had been caught. "I mean... uhh..."

"Feel like explaining why you're here, in Sinnoh, challenging me while dressed like a ninja?" Melany asked her.

"W-well I..."

"-So... are we going to fight?-" Sceptile asked Blaziken. Blaziken shrugged.

"Seriously, is all this really over that stupid joke?" Melany asked her, flinching as she tried to work out in her head how that lead to their current situation. She could understand May secretly coming to Sinnoh, but she was lost on the ninja part.

"I wanted to fight you... without you knowing it was me..." May finally said, then reached up and pulled off the mask of her costume. "It was a stupid idea, I know..."

"If you had let your hair down it would have been harder to tell at least," Melany suggested. "In fact, I think you'd look pretty good with your hair down for a change."

May blushed slightly and turned away. "Just shut up..." she mumbled.

Melany sighed and folded her arms. "May, you wanna just talk about this already?" she asked. "It was a joke, okay? I wasn't really going to go through with that kiss. Heck, I figured you would just hit me and that'd be it!"

"I don't know!" May yelled back, turning to face her. "I don't know why I acted like that!"

"-I'm definitely getting the feeling the fight is off,-" Blaziken said to Sceptile.

"-Darn,-" Sceptile grumbled. The two of them finally relaxed their tense postures. "-Guess that match will have to wait for another day then...-"

"-I don't feel so bad about getting sidelined now,-" Skarmory mumbled to himself with a shrug of his wings.

"Well, whatever the reason, don't you think this has gone on long enough?" Melany asked her. "Why don't we just call it a night?" Melany then took a pokeball in her hand. "Sceptile? Sorry to get your hopes up but, as you've probably realized, there won't be a battle," she said, then recalled Sceptile.

"Err, yeah, same to you Blaziken," May said, recalling her own pokemon. She then let out a sigh. "Yeah, I'm feeling stupider by the second. It was bad enough that I was practically stalking you for the past few days..."

"Like a ninja?" Melany suggested with a wry smile. May shot her a glare. "Alright, alright, let's just go. You can ride with me," she said. May nodded and the two girls approached Skarmory.

"-Oh it's going to take all my willpower not to drop the two of you in the water,-" Skarmory grumbled.

Melany hopped on Skarmory's and then extended a hand to May to help her up. May reached out and took Melany's hand but, instead of getting onto Skarmory's back, she stood staring at their joined hands for a moment before suddenly blushing and pulling away.

"U-um, you know, maybe I'll just fly back on my own..." May said, backing away a few steps. "I mean, I still have Altaria afterall..."

Melany blinked in confusion and then shrugged. "Alright, if you say so. I'll see you back at the hotel then." Melany then took off on Skarmory, leaving May alone on the island.

_What was that just now? _May wondered, looking down at her hand. _When I touched her hand, it was... weird. Like I really wanted to hold her hand. I couldn't really be falling for Melany, could I?_

Meanwhile, as Melany was flying away, she ordered Skarmory to stop and looked back at the island while Skarmory hovered in place.

"What was with May just now?" Melany wondered aloud. "She's really been acting odd... could she really be?" Melany stopped and shook her head. "No, that's just silly. Let's just get back to the hotel, Skarmory." Skarmory nodded, then turned and took off toward the Resort Area again.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the top of a lighthouse, a red haired man argued with a blonde man staring vacantly out toward the ocean.

"So, what do you say? She has two matches left, both tomorrow. It's now or never, man."

"Why bother? She's just another trainer collecting badges. There's a new one every other week."

"I'm telling you, she's strong! Give her a chance! She's beaten legendary pokemon, you know!"

"Really?" The blonde-haired man snorted. "I didn't know legendary pokemon were so weak."

The redhead let out an exasperated sigh. "Come on, just watch one match! What do you have to lose?"

The blonde one thought about it for a moment, then sighed. "Fine. You win, Flint." He stood back from the window and turned to face the redhead, narrowing his eyes at him. "But if I don't think she's strong enough, if I don't think she'll give me a good match, I won't even dignify her with a chance to try to earn her badge from me."

Flint grinned and slid his hands into his pockets. "I'm telling ya Volkner, this girl will impress you!"

Volkner shrugged and replied, "We'll see, Flint. We'll see..."

* * *

Author's Notes: You know, I was a lot more enthusiastic about this chapter going in than I was coming out of it. I wanted to do more with Dawn's villa this chapter, honestly, but then I realized she had an empty villa and it was already night. So there was really not much to do with Dawn's villa. I feel like this chapter ended up fairly empty, too, but there was some important set-up between May and Melany that will be expanded on in the next chapter.

Next chapter might end up being another non-battle chapter as I might devote it to more character interaction with the rest of the cast as well. This chapter covered the same night as Dawn's battle with Wake, the next chapter will thus start in the morning and lead up to Dawn's battle with Candice if I don't end up just doing the battle next chapter as well. Depends on how much time I end up devoting to the character interaction.

All in all, this chapter ended up fairly short and felt a bit less satisfying than I was hoping for.


	58. Chapter 57: Byron the Digger

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 57**

**Byron the Digger**

"So that's where you were last night..." Rina mumbled thoughtfully. She was sitting down for breakfast in the restaurant with Melany and just received an explanation for why she was out so late. "Ashley ran out to do... something, so it was just me here last night." She then peered at Melany curiously. "But I had no idea you two weren't getting along again. I mean, I thought it was odd that you stopped visiting her suddenly, but you never said anything."

Melany shrugged. "I just figured it'd all blow over. I didn't even know why it was bothering her so much."

"Haven't you figured out what's going on, though?" Rina asked. She took a sip from a glass of orange juice, then set the glass down again. "You're supposed to be smart, afterall."

"And I'm guessing you HAVE figured it out?" Melany asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Isn't it obvious? She has a crush on you."

"-And of course Rina knows all about that,-" Pippi said from under the table, snickering to herself. This earned her a light kick from Rina.

"That's just stupid," Melany said, then took her cup of tea in hand to take a sip from it.

Rina frowned at her. "And why's that? Because you said so?" Rina shook her head. "You know, I think the only reason you deny it is because you convinced yourself long ago that you didn't have a chance."

"It's because she's straight," Melany replied with a shrug. "She was interested in me when she thought I was a boy, remember?"

"Who says she can't go both ways?" Rina asked in response. Melany opened her mouth to respond, but before she could even get a word out she saw something that left her mouth just hanging open.

At the hotel restaurant's entrance, May had just walked in. She was now garbed in the orange outfit and green and white bandana she had worn for most of her journey across Hoenn. What was the most striking about her appearance, though, was that she had undone the "wings" to just let her hair hang loosely along the sides of her head. Just as Melany had briefly suggested the night before. She briefly scanned the restaurant and spotted Rina and Melany, then headed to the counter to get her breakfast.

Having now turned and seen her as well, Rina looked back at Melany with a smirk on her lips. "Well? What do you say now?"

"I don't have a clue..." Melany mumbled, quickly grabbing her teacup and taking a sip.

After getting her own meal, which was just a bagel, May found where Melany and Rina were seated again and took a seat next to Rina. Both girls couldn't help glancing at her hair again and May took notice of this.

"What?"

"Nothing," Rina said, then went back to drinking her orange juice. She quickly finished it and then got up from her seat. "Well I have, uh, things to do. So I'll leave you two alone now!" Rina winked at Melany and then turned to leave. "Come on, Pippi."

"-But I want to see this!-" Pippi said to Rina. "-I want to understand human relation-"

"Come on, Pippi, we're going," Rina said more forcefully. Pippi let out a sigh and followed Rina out of the restaurant. An uneasy silence then feel between May and Melany momentarily until Melany finally worked up the courage to speak.

"You uh... you really do look cute with your hair like that..." Melany said to May.

"Thanks..." May replied quietly. Both girls were nervous and unsure of what to say to each other.

_Great. I might actually have a chance with May afterall but I'm too nervous to actually say anything_, Melany thought, staring down at her tea. _It was easy enough to joke around and mess with her, and I never hid the fact that I liked her, but suddenly I can't even ask her if she might feel the same... _Melany furrowed her brow. _I wonder what she's thinking right now?_

May, meanwhile, was staring down at her bagel. _I just realized something,_ she thought. _They gave me the wrong kind of bagel... _She shrugged it off and picked up the top half of her bagel to take a bite of it.

This setting isn't helping either, Melany thought. Letting out a sigh, she took a long sip from her tea before addressing May again. "May, you uh... you wanna go somewhere a bit quieter after this?" Melany asked her while rubbing her neck sheepishly.

"Oh..." May stopped mid-bite and blinked as she looked back at Melany. Her cheeks reddened. "You mean... like a date?"

"W-well... it could be?"

"But... just as friends still? Or...?"

Melany looked away and fidgeted nervously. "It doesn't have to be. I mean, would you prefer it was... a date-date?"

"Yes!" May suddenly blurted. "I mean... that would be... umm..." May fidgeted and stared down at the table. The two fell silent for a moment.

"So... how about lunch then?" Melany eventually asked.

"That would be fine..." May replied quietly. The two of them finished their breakfast in relative silence.

* * *

_Hope things work out between those two,_ Rina thought after leaving the hotel. With her hands behind her head and Pippi in tow, Rina now found herself wandering through the Resort Area with no particular destination in mind.

That wandering brought her to the edge of a lake, across from which was the Resort Area pokemon center. She stopped there to look out toward the lake, but then overheard a pair of familiar voices talking nearby.

"He has his emotions back, but he still won't evolve..."

"Hrm. Perhaps he is simply not ready to evolve?"

Turning to the source of the voices, Rina spotted Professor Rowan and Lucas standing at the edge of a nearby forest. With them was a small blue pokemon, Lucas's piplup.

"-I'm not just going to evolve when you say to evolve!-" Pips said in a huff. "-I'll evolve when I'm good and ready! Which would be now if I wasn't feeling so spiteful!-"

_I want to tell them what that pokemon is saying, but will that really help given its attitude?_ Rina wondered. _Come to think of it, I wonder what everyone else is doing? I think Barry and that pink-haired gym leader were seeing Wake off. I think the pink-haired one was Rayleen?_

Rina shrugged it off and then looked out toward the lake. "You know, Pippi, I hear there's lots of villas around here. I wouldn't mind seeing them," she said.

"-Why? Are you going to get one?-" Pippi asked curiously. Rina giggled and shook her head.

"Not a chance!" she replied. "I couldn't afford one, and it's not like people just hand out villas for free you know."

* * *

Later, at the Fight Area Pokemon Center...

"There!" Dawn said as she took a pokeball in her hand. "With that last transfer done, my team is ready to take on Byron!"

"Really?" another girl's voice suddenly asked from behind her. "Did you include your togetic in your team by any chance?"

"Togetic?" Dawn asked as she turned around. "I have Eggman with me, but what does that..." Dawn stopped when she saw Ashley standing behind her, holding a strange stone in her hand. It was almost transparent, but a bright light glowed from within.

"I found this while travelling around the Battle Zone a while back but had no use for it at the time so I left it alone," Ashley explained to Dawn. "It's an evolution stone, one that can evolve a togetic into its final form. I went out to retrieve it last night."

"Really? But it must have been hard to..." Dawn stopped herself looked at the stone again. She was about to suggest it'd be hard to find in the dark, but it occurred to her that a glowing rock would be pretty easy to find at night. "Nevermind."

"So, what do you say we evolve your pokemon for your upcoming battle?" Ashley asked Dawn. Dawn nodded and the two left the pokemon center, but stopped almost immediately outside. Dawn then took a pokeball from her belt.

"Eggman, come on out!" she said while pressing the button. The pokeball opened and Eggman appeared. Realizing there was no battle to be had, Eggman turned to Dawn and held out his hand to her.

"-DS please!-" he said to her.

"Not right now. Now is the time for you to..." Dawn dramtically pointed a finger at him and said, "EVOLVE!"

"What she said," Ashley added, taking Dawn's silliness in stride and setting down the shiny stone in front of Eggman.

"-Oh! Cool!-" Eggman said, grinning. "-Don't mind if I do!-" Eggman reached out and touched the stone, which suddenly released a blinding light. Eggman's evolution happened quickly, his form changing from his somewhat fairy-like appearance to something more akin to a plane. By the time Ashley and Dawn could see again, though, Eggman was already evolved and had taken the form of a togekiss.

"That's his evolved form?" Dawn asked, blinking in disbelief. "He's not egg-shaped at all now!"

"Now that's not true," Ashley said, waving a finger. "Depending on how you look at him, he looks like an egg with spikey hair and wings!"

Dawn moved her head from side to side, trying to get a better look. She stopped when she noticed Eggman seemed rather distraught about something. "Eggman? What's up?" she asked him.

"-I... I...-" Eggman cried out loudly and frantically flapped his wings around. "-I HAVE NO HANDS!-"

"Ah... must be the lack of hands?" Dawn asked, realizing that now Eggman couldn't play video games. Eggman nodded, tears welling up in his eyes. "Don't worry about that, I'm sure we could figure out a solution to that easily enough," she reassured him. Eggman calmed down to a quiet whimpering and nodded.

Ashley raised an eyebrow. I didn't realize having hands was such a big deal, she thought, then shrugged. "Anyway, if you're ready, let's head on over to the Battleground now. The field should be ready." Dawn nodded in agreement. The two of them then quickly headed over to the Battleground and immediately went inside.

"Umm... deja vu?" Dawn said, blinking in disbelief. Aside from the old man running the bar, the Battleground was empty. Not unlike how she first found it when she arrived for her first battle. The only difference this time was that Ashley was with her.

Ashley continued further into the Battleground, walking up to the battlefield itself. "Looks good as new..." Ashley noted, then turned to the old man. "You did a pretty good job with it!"

"Actually, my grandson helped me with that," the old man explained. "He's here actually, but in the back right now. I believe my other grandson is coming by today as well."

"Interesting," Ashley said, then approached the bar. "By the way, what do you have for a lun-"

Ashley was suddenly interrupted as the front doors burst open and Byron stepped into the Battleground, nearly hitting Dawn with the door. Roark was following behind him. "EVERYONE! The main event is now..." Byron looked around the Battleground in confusion. "Here?" Byron blinked. "Hey, where is everyone? This is the big battle, here!"

"I think it's just me and you, pretty much," Dawn said to Byron. "Did you want to wait and see if anyone else shows up?"

"Naw! Their loss!" Byron said, waving her off. He then grabbed Dawn by the arm and started dragging her toward the battlefield. "Let's get this-"

This time it was Byron's turn to be interrupted by the door suddenly opened. Roark, who had stood back shaking his head in dismay at his father's antics, was struck and knocked aside by the door suddenly opening again. This time two young men walked in. One a red head that looked like he wouldn't be out of place dressed as a clown and advertising fast food, and the other an unamused-looking blonde.

"Ow..." Roark groaned. "Just who the..." he began to mutter as he sat up, then saw Volkner and Flint standing before him. "Ah! Volkner!" he said in shock. Byron quickly turned around when he heard this.

"Well, well, well! Look who decided to show up!" he said to them.

"Let's just get to the match already," Volkner replied impatiently. Byron scoffed but said nothing, instead moving toward the battlefield again. Dawn moved to her side of the field and Byron moved to his side of the field.

"Incase you didn't know, the blonde guy there is Volkner, the gym leader of Sunnyshore," Byron said to Dawn, jabbing his thumb in Volkner's direction. "He's been in a bit of a slump lately. Hasn't had any good challengers."

_So the mysterious eighth gym leader finally shows up?_ Dawn thought, glancing toward Volkner. _He does seem pretty bored. And a bit grumpy._ She then shrugged and drew a pokeball from her belt.

"But enough of that!" Byron yelled, grinning as he, too, readied a pokeball. "LET'S GET THIS STARTED! Skarmory, GO!" The pokeball in Byron's hand opened and out came the steel bird pokemon, Skarmory, appearing calmly perched on the field.

"I'll start with this one! Eggman, go!" Dawn called out, holding out her pokeball and pressing the button. The pokeball opened and out came Dawn's newly evolved togekiss, Eggman. Eggman was looking pretty pumped when he appeared on the battlefield and quickly lifted off into the air, hovering without even moving his wings.

"Standard procedure, Skarmory! Start with Stealth Rock!" Roark commanded. Skarmory reared his head back and then pecked the ground hard with his steel beak. Several rocks shot loose and were launched into the air. The rocks then shot straight back into the ground again, scattered across the battlefield now.

"Like son, like father..." Dawn grumbled. "Whatever! Eggman, attack with Heat Wave!" Eggman started flapping his wings while heating the air. Heated air began to wash over Skarmory's body, eventually giving way to blasts of flame. Skarmory screeched in pain as the flames washed over its body, but was still standing when the attack ended.

"Nice move, but we're far from done!" Byron said to Dawn. "And by that I mean our trap-setting continues! Skarmory, Spikes!" Skarmory crossed his wings and then spread them again, launching several steel spikes across the field. The spikes scattered across Dawn's side of the battlefield.

"Oh you have got to be..." Dawn groaned and slapped her hand against her forehead. "Eggman, Heat Wave again! Make sure you take this thing down before it can set up anything else!" Eggman nodded in agreement and began flapping his wings again, blasting Skarmory with more hot air and fire. Skarmory screeched in pain but looked like it might manage to endure yet another attack. Grimacing, Eggman flapped even harder, keeping on the attack. Eventually Skarmory collapsed beneath a wall of flames and Eggman found himself gasping for breath, exhausted from the effort.

"Heh! And I thought I was going to get an attack in, too!" Byron said as he recalled Skarmory. "Well that old guy did his job, anyway. Time to bring out some REAL firepower!" Byron grinned as he grabbed another pokeball. "The real battle starts now! MAGNEZONE GO!" The pokeball in Byron's hand opened and out came a large, UFO-shaped pokemon. A low humming noise filled the air from the pokemon's magnetic field, which it was using to hover over the battlefield.

"Eggman, good job! You can rest now!" Dawn took Eggman's pokeball in one hand to recall him and then grabbed another pokeball in her other hand. "Bahamut will take this one on! Go!" she called out, releasing Bahamut onto the field.

"-AAARRGHH!-" Bahamut yelled in pain almost immediately upon appearing on the field, his feet landing on the spikes set by Skarmory. Looking down and seeing the spikes, Bahamut let out a low growl. "-Of all the lowdown, dir-AUGH!-" Another pained yell as several sharp rocks suddenly slashed across Bahamut's body. In his rage, he didn't notice them emerge from the ground and shoot toward him. After hitting Bahamut, they embedded themselves in the ground again.

Bahamut cast a sharp glare toward Byron and growled. "-You dirty son of a zubat! I might not be able to get at you, but I'm SO going to tear your pokemon a new one now!-"

"You have some powerful pokemon in your arsenal!" Byron said, grinning. "But I wonder why you chose that one? Ground-type attacks won't work on my Magnezone, afterall!" he said to Dawn. Byron then lifted his trademark shovel in one hand and pointed it at Bahamut. "Magnezone, full power! FLASH CANNON!"

"-Roger, roger.-" Magnezone pointed the two side units toward Bahamut and began charging its attack. Light was becoming drawn toward the center of Magnezone's body. Once it had gathered enough light, Magnezone fired a huge laser blast at Bahamut.

"Bahamut, push through it!" Dawn called out. Bahamut charged forward against the blast of light, enduring the burning feeling of the laser against his body and continuing to run toward Magnezone. "Get in close and aim a Flamethrower at the ground under it!"

"-YOU'RE GOING TO BURN FOR THOSE STUPID TRAPS!-" Bahamut yelled as he closed the gap between himself and Magnezone. With only a few feet between them, Bahamut opened his mouth and fired a blast of flames straight at the ground under Magnezone. The flames rose up from there, partially scorching the front of Bahamut's body but completely engulfing Magnezone.

"-Illogical choice of action.-" Magnezone said, its voice sounding like a robotic humming and beeping. "-At this range you are needlessly burning both of us.-"

"Good! Now, Burning Dragon Claw!" Dawn called out. Bahamut grinned.

"-That! Is! THE POINT!-" Bahamut yelled as he raised both hands into the air. An orange aura formed around his claws, the shape making them look much longer and larger. Bahamut continued to spew flames from his mouth up until those claws were ready. Then he finally attacked. Flames swirled around Bahamut's enhanced claws as he brought both hands down toward Magnezone, heated claws slashing across the front of the steel pokemon's body. The intense flames and Bahamut's powerful claws were too much for Magnezone to handle. It collapsed almost as soon as it had been struck.

"Burning Dragon Claw, huh?" Byron smirked. "Nice move, there! Took my Magnezone completely by surprise!" Byron held out Magnezone's pokeball and recalled his pokemon, then took another pokeball in his hand. "Then let's follow up with another strong pokemon! STEELIX! TAKE TO THE FIELD!" The pokeball in Byron's hand opened and a huge, steel snake appeared on Byron's side of the field. It let out a mighty roar that shook the arena.

"It looks big and tough, but you know what happens to a Steelix when you attack it with fire?" Dawn smirked. "The same thing that happens to every other steel-type pokemon! Bahamut, get in close and attack this one with Flamethrower, too!" Bahamut dashed in toward Steelix's head, which was raised over him, and then aimed a blast of flames at the base of his body. Steelix groaned in pain but endured the relatively small fire.

Byron grinned. "This again? Think again! Steelix, Ice Fang! TAKE IT DOWN!" Steelix opened his mouth, letting out a low growl as ice formed on his massive teeth. Like a real snake, Steelix struck with amazing speed. His head snapped down, icy fangs snapping around Bahamut's head. Bahamut roared in pain and struggled to pull himself free from Steelix's grasp but the struggling was short lived. Bahamut soon went limp in Steelix's mouth, at which point the massive steel-type pokemon dropped him.

Dawn held out Bahamut's pokeball and recalled him. "So much for that," she mumbled. Dawn then took another pokeball in her hand. "Eggman, I'm counting on you to finish this one! Go!" she called out, releasing Eggman from his pokeball. Eggman appeared hovering over the field this time, remembering the spikes. It didn't protect him from the rocks, however, which popped out of the ground long enough to fly into Eggman and slash across his body. The rocks then smashed back into the ground, hiding to ambush Dawn's next pokemon.

"Eggman, Heat Wave!"

"Steelix, endure it and answer their attack with Gyro Ball!"

Eggman began flapping his wings, stirring up a warm breeze that continued to rise in temperature until flames began to move with the breeze. Meanwhile, Steelix was moving his long body around. He grabbed his tail in his mouth and formed his gigantic body into a large, steel wheel that began spinning rapidly. Then, he launched, moving through the fiery wind that now blew across the battlefield from Eggman. Steelix slammed into Eggman with incredible force and speed, throwing him clear out of the battlefield but fortunately not far enough to hit any walls. Eggman was knocked out almost instantly. Steelix rolled back from the attack and quickly uncurled, body extending back across the field.

"Okay, that didn't work out as planned..." Dawn muttered as she recalled Eggman. She quickly swapped pokeballs to keep on the attack. "Well I'm still insisting on that fire thing! So here goes nothing! Axel!" Dawn released Axel, her rapidash, from his pokeball. He had his usual unamused expression on his face, as if he were upset to be there even though he was looking forward to a chance to fight.

Axel's smug expression didn't last long, however. The spikes on the ground caused him little discomfort as his hooves provided little surface area on top of being harder than diamonds, but the rocks that suddenly burst from the ground and struck him weren't so easily ignored. He whinied in pain when they hit seemingly from out of nowhere and disappeared into the ground just as quickly.

"-What the!-" Axel growled. "-Damn it, you're going to pay for that one!-"

"Axel, time to finally take this one down! Fire Blast!" Dawn called out and Axel happily obliged. Opening his mouth, Axel spat a fireball at Steelix. The fireball expanded and took on a shape similar to a stick figure before finally hitting Steelix in the face. Steelix held against the attack, despite the intense flames burning him. Then the flames suddenly exploded. Steelix's head snapped back and then the pokemon finally collapsed.

"Gwahahahaha! My Steelix had you pretty good there for a while!" Byron said as he recalled his pokemon. "That's two left for me, three left for you! Guess I have to gain some ground back still!" Byron then took another pokeball in his hand. "AGGRON! TIME TO MAKE OUR COMEBACK!" he yelled, releasing his pokemon onto the battlefield. A dinosaur-like pokemon appeared. It stood upright and had a rock body covered in steel plating.

"Charging recklessly at this one seems like a bad idea..." Dawn mumbled to herself, noting that Flare Blitz, Axel's strongest technique, was probably a bad idea. "Okay, Axel, let's hit this one with Fire Blast, too!" Axel opened his mouth and spat out a fireball at Aggron. The fireball started out small but quickly expanded as it crossed the battlefield.

"Think again! Aggron, METAL BURST!" Aggron braced himself and took Axel's attack head-on. The fireball pushed against Aggron while still expanding and growing 'limbs' to take on its unusual shape. As the fire burned, the metal plating on Aggron's body began to glow. When the fire suddenly exploded and threw Aggron back the explosion was met by an explosion of light from Aggron that blasted Axel with more power than the Fire Blast that was thrown at him. Axel whinied in pain and staggered back, then finally collapsed.

"Thanks to those traps of his, that counter technique finished Axel in one move," Dawn grumbled to herself. Her hand clenched tightly around Axel's pokeball after she had recalled him, rage building inside her. Byron's tactics were perfectly valid but still rather annoying. Reminding herself of this, Dawn managed to relax so she could continue the match.

Taking another pokeball in her hand, Dawn prepared to release her next pokemon. "Jax, I choose you!" she called out and pointed the pokeball toward the field. A red beam shot out and materialized into a four-armed pokemon that looked like a wrestler. Jax winced in pain as he suddenly found himself standing on spikes, but didn't have time to complain before rocks suddenly shot into him. Jax grunted, gritting his teeth as he endured the blow. The rocks then burried themselves in the ground again.

"-What's with this field?-" Jax wondered aloud.

"Jax, finish this one now! Cross Chop!" Dawn called out. Jax crossed all four of his arms and charged across the field, looking more than a little silly as he moved in to attack.

"PROTECT!" Byron yelled. Aggron threw out his arms in response and formed a blue bubble around himself. Jax finally closed the gap and spread his arms out, making a slashing motion with all four hands, but the bubble around Aggron absorbed the attack.

"Now hit 'em hard, Aggron! EARTHQUAKE!" The bubble around Aggron's body disappeared and the steel-armored pokemon slammed one foot into the ground hard, sending a shockwave rippling out throughout the battlefield. The ground cracked and shook beneath Jax's feet, throwing him to the ground. Jax easily shook this off and quickly got back up.

"Jax, try again! Dynamicpunch this time!" Dawn called out. Jax gritted his teeth and smashed Aggron in the chest with one fist, causing an explosion upon impact. Aggron, being especially weak to fighting-type attacks, was thrown off his feet by the explosion. Axel's Fire Blast attack had already taken a toll on Aggron as well. When he went down, he stayed down. Byron quickly recalled him.

"Tch... two on one now..." Byron said to himself. "But we're not backing down! My sturdy pokemon and I... WE WILL NEVER BACK DOWN!" Byron then took his last pokeball in his hand. "GO! BASTIODON! LET'S MAKE OUR STAND!" he called out, releasing his trademark fossil pokemon. Like Aggron, it was a dinosaur-like pokemon with a rocky hide and steel plating. Its face in particular was incredibly tough, able to withstand just about any attack.

"This one is a rock and steel-type too, so Jax can handle this no problem!" Dawn said confidently. "Jax, Dynamicpunch!"

"MEET HIS ATTACK HEAD ON!" Byron yelled. "IRON HEAD!"

Bastiodon and Jax charged toward each other, Jax swinging his first forward as they approached. Jax's fist smashed into Bastiodon's face, causing an explosion upon impact. Despite Bastiodon's weakness to fighting-type attacks, however, he endured the blow with little effect. In fact, the punch seemed to hurt Jax more as he quickly drew back from the punch only to have Bastiodon plow head-first into Jax's chest. Jax groaned and staggered back, then collapsed.

"Pretty strong defenses that one has," Dawn said as she recalled Jax. She then took another pokeball in her hand. "Unfortunately for you, my last pokemon is also a fighting-type! Ryu, you're on now! Go!" The pokeball in Dawn's hand opened and out came her own final pokemon, Ryu. Ryu quickly shifted into a fighting stance and felt for Bastiodon's aura to sense his remaining strength. Surprisingly, it was still ready for more.

Unfortunately for Ryu, being able to sense aura didn't alert him to the auraless rocks that suddenly shot up out of the ground. The rocks homed in on him and all smashed into him, knocking him off balance. This caused Ryu to step onto the spikes that he had managed to miss when he initially emerged from the pokeball.

"-Owowow!-" Ryu said as he hopped around in pain. "-What IS all of this!-"

_A frontal attack obviously isn't going to work on this pokemon,_ Dawn thought, also noticing that Jax's attack had little effect. It didn't take her long to think up a strategy when she realized this. "Ryu, hit Bastiodon with Metal Sound!"

"-Fine by me...-" Ryu grumbled. He brought his hands together, palms out, and started rubbing the spikes on the back of his hands together. The rubbing produced a terrible grinding noise that distracted Bastiodon, greatly reducing his defense against special attacks.

"Bastiodon, Taunt it so it can't use that technique again!" Byron called out, hoping to force Ryu onto the offense. Truth was, Bastiodon had little power on his own, especially against a pokemon with Ryu's type advantages. For that reason, Byron usually relied on enduring the opponent's attacks and using Metal Burst in return. His Bastiodon also knew Rest to keep itself in the fight while relying on a strategy that involved being attacked. He had a feeling, though, that nothing he could do now would actually turn this match around for him.

"-Is that really the best you can do? Make loud, obnoxious noises?-" Bastiodon grunted. "-You're not worth my time.-"

"-I'll show you my best soon enough!-" Ryu growled in response.

"Ryu, now! Time to finish this!" Dawn called out. "Use Aura Sphere and hit Bastiodon from behind!"

"-GOT IT!-" Ryu yelled eagerly. Cupping his hands, Ryu gathered aura into a ball and then launched it at Bastiodon. Bastiodon braced himself, ready to take the energy ball head on. At the last second, Ryu made a quick hand gesture and the sphere suddenly shot straight up.

"-What the!-" Bastiodon exclaimed in shock. Another gesture from Ryu brought the sphere straight down into Bastiodon's backside, exploding upon impact and pounding him into the ground. Bastiodon tried to push himself back up, but collapsed again. He had no strength left.

"And that's that!" Byron said, recalling his Bastiodon. He made mental note to teach yet another pokemon Earthquake later. "Time and time again I'm amazed by how quickly you young trainers are catching up to the old guard! This match goes to you, Dawn!"

"Ryu! Nice moves there with the Aura Sphere!" Dawn said, congratulating her pokemon. Ryu turned to face her, smirking and giving her a thumbs up. Dawn then recalled Ryu and placed his pokeball back on her belt. By the time she had done so, Byron had crossed the battlefield and now stood before her.

"That was an amazing match, Dawn. You've earned this!" he said, then handed her a badge and TM disc. "That's the mine badge and Flash Cannon TM! Use that TM wisely, you hear?"

"Thanks, will do!" Dawn replied enthusiastically, though she wondered if any of her pokemon could even use it. Then, remembering who else was present, Dawn turned to see what Volkner had thought of the match. To her dismay, he still had that same unamused expression on his face.

_He wasn't impressed at all!_ Dawn thought._ I still have one match to go, but it looks like I'll really have to impress this guy somehow! If I don't, I won't be able to get my final badge!_

With that in mind, Dawn quickly made her way out of the Battleground. She was now especially eager to make sure she'd be ready for her next match.

* * *

Author's Notes: Phew. That was an... interesting chapter to write. Ended up cutting a few things out because I didn't think they were particularly interesting or even necessary scenes.

Just want to make a note here in regards to one (unfortunatel anonymous) review from last chapter, particularly since that individual might not be the only one. It's weird, but somehow the Sinnoh Saga seems like it's drawn a LOT more attention than my previous sagas.

With that said, unlike my previous sagas I didn't label this or give any warning to the possibility of homosexual content in the story. It was kinda stupid in retrospect, but I didn't feel it was entirely necessary at the time as it occurs mostly between Melany and May, who receive relatively little focus this saga and their relationship even less so. On the other hand, I DID label some of my older sagas as lesbian/yuri as back then I originally intended to have more focus on such but at some point I got a clue and realized the way I had planned out the relationships between the characters was stupid. As a result, it ended up with only May and Melany out of the original cast and their relationship ended up drawn out to the point where the only saga I labelled appropriately really had no lesbian relationships. And since, for some people, that's a... well, something that might draw them into a story for one reason or another, it felt wrong to label a story as such when there either was none or the relationships had very little focus.

However, even with that said, I'd also like to point out that I'm in no way obligated to provide a warning. It's a good idea to do so, especially if you're writing a story where romance is a major factor, but in no way required. And, again, it's an incredibly minor point in the story as this isn't a romance story. It takes a back seat to the plot and happens when the time is right.

Okay, rant over. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!


	59. Chapter 58: A Hot Battle With Candice

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 58**

**A Hot Battle With Candice**

"So Dawn has managed to obtain yet another badge but I wasn't even here to see it." Cynthia chuckled to herself. "I honestly didn't expect everyone to get here so early!" Shortly after Dawn had left, Cynthia and several others had arrived at the Battleground. Byron and Roark had taken a seat at one of the tables and Byron ordered a drink after his defeat by Dawn.

"Seems like you weren't the only one," Byron said to Cynthia. "Was just Ashley, Flint, Volkner, and Roark here to watch."

"So I've noticed," Cynthia said. She then turned to Volkner, who was sitting at the bar with Flint, and flashed him a smile. "So Flint managed to drag you out here afterall. What do you think of Dawn so far?"

"Doesn't seem like anything special to me," Volkner replied without even looking at her. "Still wouldn't put up much of a fight against me."

"I see." Cynthia let out a sigh. "Well, perhaps you'll change your mind after seeing her battle Candice."

"Doubtful," Volkner muttered. Flint shook his head sadly.

"I'm telling you, man, give her a chance!" Flint said, pleading with Volkner. "I bet you're not even judging her fairly. I know I think she's doing good, and so does Cynthia." Flint then leaned closer to him and looked Volkner in the eye. "Or are you saying you're better than her now?"

Silence fell throughout the building and all eyes turned to Volkner. Volkner himself seemed to freeze in contemplation, though his expression remained unchanged.

It was at that point that the door suddenly opened and the black haired, twintailed Candice walked into the Battleground. "Alright, everyone! The main event is finally... here?" Candice looked around the Battleground in confusion, noticing the tense atmosphere, then realized everyone was looking at Volkner. "Ah. Volkner's here. Should have known," she said, then continued on inside. Maylene and Barry walked in behind her.

"I don't know about that," came Volkner's eventualy response, shrugging it off. "Maybe Cynthia is just overestimating her? Like I said, she doesn't seem that special to me."

"Then you'll just have to pay close attention to her battle against me!" Candice said, turning rather suddenly. "I won't lose to any weak trainer!"

"None of us will," Byron added, narrowing his eyes at Volkner. "You're not that tough, pal. If you don't watch yourself, Dawn will mop the floor with you."

"Hey, hey, hey! What's with the atmosphere in here?" a red-haired young man said as he came out from the back room. "Seriously! I could hear you all from back here! Why don't you just wait for Dawn to get back and see how things go down?"

"Words of wisdom from Buck." Flint chuckled. "I think we've reached a whole new low now!"

"I'm just stating the obvious!" Buck shot back. "No one wants to listen to you all bickering and I want to see this girl you're all so impressed with!" Just then, the doors opened and Dawn walked in alongside her mother. "And there she is now! Just in time!"

"Huh?" Dawn blinked and looked toward the boy addressing her. "Umm... do I know you?"

Buck folded his arms and grinned."Nope!"

"Okay then..." Ignoring Buck, Dawn took a quick look around the Battleground. She could see that Professor Rowan and Lucas were now there, seated as the same table as Ashley. Barry was moving toward that table as well. Maylene, whose presence baffled Dawn, had taken a seat alongside Byron and Roark. Cynthia was seated at a table with only two chairs and was soon joined there by Joanne.

_Just Melany and Rina still missing,_ she thought to herself.

"You certainly took your time switching your pokemon." Roark smirked. "Planned out some perfect strategy to defeat Candice?" Candice opened her mouth to object but Dawn cut her off.

"I wasn't at the pokemon center that long, actually. Was just trying to track down her," Dawn said while pointing toward her mother.

"If you're ready then let's not waste anymore time!" Candice said impatiently. "Besides, you've got a real job ahead of you to try to impress Mister Emo over here!"

"Hey!" Volkner growled, but Candice just stuck her tongue out at him before turning to Dawn again.

"Well, what do you say? Shall we get this battle underway?" she asked. Dawn nodded in agreement and glanced at Volkner with a determined look in her eyes.

_Just you wait, Volkner! After I beat Candice you'll see what I'm really capable of!_ Dawn thought to herself.

Candice and Dawn made their way toward the battlefield and took up position on opposite ends of the field. Both trainers then drew their first pokeball and were ready to start the match.

"Come on, Candice! You can beat her!" Maylene shouted enthusiastically.

"I didn't know you had a fangirl," Dawn said to Candice.

"I have lots of fangirls!" Candice replied. "Now let's get this match started already! Abomasnow, come on!" Candice pointed her pokeball out toward the field and released her pokemon. A grass-type pokemon with a body covered in snow appeared, resembling an abominable snowman. As soon as Abomasnow hit the field a sudden and intense snow storm spread out, covering the battlefield.

"I guess that's why she chose that one first. What a pain." Dawn muttered to herself. She then held out her pokeball, pointing it toward the field. "Auriga, I choose you!" she called out as she released her pokemon. The hard-headed cranidos appeared on the field and kicked at the ground, ready for a charge.

_This will be tricky since her pokemon is also a grass-type,_ Dawn thought. She didn't intend to keep Auriga out against Abomasnow, but there was something Auriga had to do first.

"You're going to regret using a rock-type!" Candice yelled. "Abomasnow, Wood Hammer!"

"Here goes nothing..." Dawn mumbled to herself. "Auriga, block with Iron Head!"

The two pokemon rushed toward each other, Auriga's forehead taking on a metallic sheen as he prepared to use Iron Head. Before reaching Abomasnow, Auriga suddenly skidded to a stop. Abomasnow moved to rush side-first into Auriga, hammering him with his body, and Auriga positioned himself to brace against the attack and take the hit to his head. Auriga grunted from the blow but was able to endure it, then answered back by hitting Abomasnow in the chest with Iron Head and causing it to stumble back.

"Good job, Auriga! Now, set up Stealth Rock!" Auriga growled and stomped the ground, cracking it and sending several rocks flying. The sharp rocks then shot back into the ground around Candice's side of the field.

"Okay, that's it for now! Auriga, return!" Dawn held out Auriga's pokeball, recalling him and then returning the pokeball to her belt.

"I see. So you sent that pokemon out to set up Stealth Rock..." Candice mumbled, eyes narrowing. Her pokemon were especially weak to Stealth Rock, thus Candice could understand now why Dawn would risk sending in a rock-type against a grass-type.

"Axel, your turn now! Go!" Dawn called out as she raised her hand, pokeball ready, and released her rapidash, Axel, onto the battlefield. Axel grimaced when he felt the effects of the hailstorm, the ice melting into water as it struck him. The weather bothered him, but it wasn't going to deter him from the battle at hand and he immediately turned a fierce gaze to Abomasnow.

"Axel, take her pokemon down in one move! Flare Blitz!"

"We won't go down without a fight! Abomasnow, Wood Hammer!"

Just like in the previous match, the two pokemon started by charging at each other with Axel surrounding himself in flames. When the two collided, the victor was clear in an instant. Axel hardly seemed to slow down from the impact, looking like a giant fireball as he plowed into Abomasnow. Abomasnow groaned in pain as Axel pushed him across the battlefield, Abomasnow desparately pounding on Axel as best it could under the circumstances. Eventually, as the flames continued to burn it, Abomasnow simply lost consciousness and Axel came to a stop.

"Well! You beat my Abomasnow quite handily!" Candice said, recalling her fallen pokemon. She then quickly grabbed another pokeball. "Okay then! Continue where Abomasnow left off! Mamoswine!" The pokeball opened and, from it, a large, wooly pokemon that Dawn didn't immediately recognize.

"Obviously an ice-type, though," Dawn mumbled to herself. She then watched in smug satisfaction as her opponent's pokemon was struck by Stealth Rock. Dawn then quickly called out an attack. "Axel, same for this one! Flare Blitz!"

Axel charged toward Mamoswine, quickly clearing the small gap between them while wreathing his body in flames. Mamoswine braced herself, taking the attack head-on. The flaming Axel slammed into her but Mamoswine stood her ground, enduring the flames that now seared her body. Axel continued to push against Mamoswine for as long as he could but was forced to back off before long as the flames suddenly died down.

"You won't finish Mamoswine that easily! Mamoswine, Earthquake!" Mamoswine let out a loud cry and reared back on its hind legs, then slammed the ground hard to send a powerful shockwave rippling through the ground toward Axel. The shockwave threw Axel back and he hit the ground on his side, taking maximum damage from the shaking and cracking ground under him. When the ground finally quieted, Axel was unconscious.

"So it was a ground-type too then?" Dawn wondered aloud as she recalled Axel. Before choosing her next pokemon, Dawn took a moment to consider her opponent. Sturdy, but slow. And Mamoswine had already taken a strong blow from Flare Blitz in spite of her sturdiness. In addition to the damage from Stealth Rock, Dawn knew she could end it in one more move.

"Auriga, your turn again!" Dawn called out, taking another pokeball in her hand and sending Auriga back out onto the battlefield. "Auriga, one attack should do it! Iron Head!" Auriga charged across the battlefield, his forehead taking on a metallic sheen, and smashed head-first into Mamoswine. This time, Mamoswine didn't have the strength to so bravely endure the blow. She was knocked back and then fell over onto her side, fainting.

"Hmph! Took out the rapidash anyway!" Candice said as she recalled her pokemon. She then smirked to herself. "Still, all these type advantages, Stealth Rock setup, and you're still barely a pokemon ahead of me! Look at that cranidos, it can't... huh?"

At that moment, Auriga suddenly began to glow. His body grew, becoming almost twice as tall and much, much bulkier. Spikes formed around his thick, powerful skull and on other areas of his body. The glowing stopped within moments and the previously weakened cranidos was now looking much better off as a fully evolved ramparados.

"Of course..." Candice chuckled to herself. "Any cranidos you would be using would naturally be close to evolving..."

"I knew Auriga would evolve if I kept him in this match," Dawn replied with a smirk. "And I'm well aware of how powerful a fully evolved ramparados is!"

"But power isn't all there is to winning a match!" Candice said as she took a pokeball in her hand. "Weavile! Go!" The pokeball in Candice's hand opened and a small, speedy-looking pokemon with incredibly sharp claws emerged onto the field. Almost immediately it was assaulted by the rocks that suddenly rose from the ground, catching the pokemon off guard and smashing her before retreating back into the ground.

"Auriga, good job, but you'll have to sit this battle out too!" Dawn said, recalling Auriga. Even though he was evolved now, Dawn recognized the risk in keeping him in battle against a pokemon like weavile. She knew she had a much better option against such a pokemon, afterall, and immediately retrieved that pokemon's pokeball from her belt.

"Ryu, I choose you! Go!" Dawn called out as she released him from his pokeball. Ryu emerged onto the field in a fighting stance, seemingly oblivious to the snow and ice that continued to blow across the field.

"Ryu, this one should be easy! Hit it with an Aura Sphere!"

"Weavile, circle around and use Faint Attack! And don't stop moving!"

Ryu cupped his hands and gathered a sphere of pure aura between them, then fired it at Weavile. Weavile's body tensed, eyes watching the approaching sphere. Once it was almost upon her, Weavile moved in a flash and circled around to get past the sphere which immediately started to follow behind her. She then moved in another flash as she approached Ryu, moving past him and making a quick strike from behind after moving past. The attack did little to Ryu, though it did manage to distract him enough that he didn't see his own attack coming. The Aura Sphere, still aiming for Weavile, hit Ryu instead as Weavile was positioned directly behind him. The Aura Sphere colliding with him knocked Ryu to the ground.

"Nice move..." Dawn mumbled. "If even Aura Sphere won't work, then let's try matching speed with speed! Ryu, use Extremespeed and follow up with Close Combat!" Ryu quickly jumped back up onto his feet, causing Weavile to jump back reflexively. It didn't help her any as Ryu was suddenly on her in a flash, closing the distance with Extremespeed but stopping before reaching Weavile and then delivering a flurry of punches and kicks. Weavile, being a fairly frail pokemon with a drastic weakness to fighting-type attacks, couldn't endure the assault and soon fainted.

"Almost had you!" Candice said as she recalled Weavile. "Well, your lucario is putting up a tough front, but between the hail and getting hit by his own Aura Sphere I bet he's starting to feel the pressure!"

_She's right,_ Dawn thought. _Ryu was caught off guard by that Aura Sphere, he's in pretty rough shape right now..._

"So my next pokemon will keep things going!" Candice took a pokeball in her hand and called out her next pokemon. "Froslass, I choose you!" The pokeball opened and from it came a pokemon that Dawn was all too familiar with. A white, ghostly ice pokemon appeared seemingly floating low over the field. Almost immediately, the pokemon was set upon by the rocks that suddenly emerged from the ground. The sudden blow knocked her back, but she quickly recovered as the rocks were retreating and looked a bit miffed by the assault.

"A froslass, huh?" Dawn smirked. "Too bad I'm pretty familiar with that pokemon! Ryu, use Blaze Kick!"

"Not a chance! Froslass, Blizzard!" Ryu charged toward Froslass to attack her and Froslass responded by making a sweeping gesture with one arm. The intensity of the blizzard suddenly increased and ice and snow swirled around Ryu, stopping him in his tracks. As the intensity of the storm around Ryu increased, Ryu felt himself slowly weakening until, finally, he fainted. Dawn immediately recalled him.

"If Ryu was in better condition that would have worked," Dawn muttered to herself as she switched pokeballs. "I guess I forgot how dangerous a froslass can be when a hail effect is active. I'll make up for it with my next pokemon!" Dawn gripped her pokeball tightly and pointed it toward the field. "Bridget! Go!" The pokeball in Dawn's hand opened and out came the pink playboy bunny pokemon, Bridget. As soon as he was on the field, Dawn's mother released the two buneary from their pokeballs to watch.

"-More ghosts, huh?-" Bridget grinned. "-Lucky me! I'm an official ghost buster!-"

"-We shall see how long that confidence of your's lasts,-" Froslass replied.

Candice smirked. "Interesting choice! No type advantage on either side here, so let's see what that lopunny of your's can do!" Candice said to Dawn. "Froslass, keep up the pressure girl! Use Blizzard again!"

"Wrong move! Bridget, Mirror Coat!" Froslass spread out her arms, sending out a blast of snow and ice at Bridget. The continued snow from the hail effect swirled around Bridget as well, wearing him down. Bridget responded to this with Mirror Coat. His body flashed, sending a blast of energy at Candice's Froslass that carried twice as much power as the Blizzard she was focusing on Bridget. Froslass was thrown to the ground hard and for a moment it seemed like she was down and out, but soon enough she was floating back up. Clearly almost out, but not quite.

"Now finish this with Fire Punch!"

"Froslass, once more with Blizzard!"

Bridget grinned as one of his hands became wreathed in flames. He charged toward Froslass but the ghost pokemon proved too quick for him. Already the storm around him seemed to intensify and he was struck by a sudden blast of ice and snow, stopping him in his tracks. As the blowing snow continued to intensify, Bridget found himself steadily growing weaker until he finally collapsed.

"Even took Bridget out..." Dawn mumbled, blinking in disbelief. The buneary watching both frowned, disappointed to see him go down so quickly. Candice's Froslass was barely hanging on, but Dawn had now lost two pokemon to it.

At least now I'm sure to take it out with my next pokemon, Dawn thought to herself as she recalled Bridget and quickly swapped pokeballs. "Jax, your turn now! Go!" she called out, releasing her four-armed fighting pokemon onto the field for another battle. Eager to finish Froslass off, Dawn quickly called out an attack.

"Jax, attack with Rock Slide!"

"Froslass, Destiny Bond!"

Unfortunately for Dawn, she committed to an attack without really thinking. As Jax was pounding the ground to trigger his Rock Slide, Froslass was already binding their destinies together, a dark aura surrounding both pokemon to indicate this. A barrage of rocks was sent toward Froslass, rolling over her and knocking her out almost instantly. This triggered the Destiny Bond effect, causing Jax to suddenly faint as well. Dawn was rendered speechless for a moment as this turn of events sunk in.

"Looks like we're both down to our last pokemon now!" Candice said as she recalled her pokemon. "Only my pokemon has never been in battle yet, whereas your last pokemon has been in a few!"

"But it's not over yet!" Dawn replied, trying her best to sound confident and quickly recalling her own fallen pokemon. "My final pokemon might not be in peak condition, but he only needs to be strong enough to beat whatever your last pokemon is!"

"Oh? Then let's not delay this final bout any further!" Candice said, taking her final pokeball in hand. "This is it! My last resort pokemon! Glaceon, I choose you!" The pokeball in Candice's hand opened and out came Glaceon, a pokemon Dawn was very familiar with due to owning one herself. Seeing it reminded Dawn that she did, indeed, have a shot at winning. It was risky, but there was only one thing she could do, one move she could rely on, to beat Candice's final pokemon and receive her seventh badge.

"Auriga, it's all up to you now!" Dawn called out as she drew Auriga's pokeball. "Go!" The pokeball in Dawn's hand opened, releasing Auriga onto the field for the third time in the match. Meanwhile, the rocks on Candice's side of the field suddenly rose up from the ground and shot toward Glaceon, striking a harsh blow before floating back and shooting into the ground again. It was a relatively minor blow, but it helped to tilt the tide in Dawn's favor.

"Looks like you won't be winning this battle, Dawn! Glaceon, end this with a Blizzard!"

"It's not over until it's over! Auriga, full power! HEAD SMASH!"

Auriga lowered his head and took off at full speed across the field. Glaceon held his position in spite of the charing ramparados, opening his mouth and firing a blast of snow and ice at Auriga while the hailstorm intensified around him. Auriga flinched at the snow and ice that struck him but continued to push through it at full power. There was little that could stop a charging ramparados once it got going.

Glaceon realized too late that Auriga was going to smash into him, taking a full power blow as Auriga slammed into Glaceon head-first. The sheer power of Auriga's attack threw Glaceon back, knocking him clear out of the battlefield. He was unconscious when he hit the floor. Auriga, however, didn't survive either. His own power was too much for even his thick skull to withstand and his body simply couldn't endure the shock of ramming Glaceon, causing him to drop shortly after the collision.

"A tie..." Candice mumbled, then chuckled to herself as she recalled Glaceon. "I suppose I can accept that, even though according to official league rules the challenger receives a badge as long as they are able to knock out all of the gym leader's pokemon. So even though it was a draw, you've still earned the Icicle Badge, Dawn!"

"I was actually hoping Auriga would survive that, but that works too I guess," Dawn said, recalling her pokemon as well. The two girls then moved around the outer edge of the battlefield, meeting near the middle.

"That was a great battle, Dawn! You've earned this!" Candice said, then handed over the Icicle Badge and a TM disc to Dawn.

"Well this was just a waste of time," Volkner suddenly said as he got up from the bar, then turned to Dawn and said. "You, you're after badges, right? Then here," Volkner reached into his pocket to retrieve something, then tossed it to Dawn. The object landed at Dawn's feet and when she looked down she saw that it was the Beacon Badge.

"But I don't..." Dawn began to say.

"Fighting you would be a waste of time. If you can only manage a draw against Candice, you won't last five minutes against me," Volkner said bluntly. "Everyone here seems to be convinced that you're something special, but you're not. You're just another trainer making her way through the league who was lucky enough to catch a legendary pokemon."

"Then do you think you could do that?" Cynthia suddenly said to Volkner. The entire group turned to look at her. "Do you think you could track down and capture a legendary pokemon, Volkner?"

Volkner snorted. "If someone like her could do it, I definitely could."

Cynthia smirked. "Then how about a challenge?" she said. "You and Dawn will each attempt to capture a legendary pokemon and then return here. After both of you have either caught a legendary pokemon or have given up on trying to catch one, you will then have a full battle. Six pokemon each, including the newly caught legendary pokemon. Unless, of course, one of you fails to catch one."

"Doesn't she already have a legendary pokemon?" Volkner asked, jabbing his thumb in Dawn's direction.

"She will catch another regardless." Cynthia smiled. "Right Dawn?"

Dawn looked at the badge on the ground before her, considering it for a moment, then picked it up and threw it at the back of Volkner's head.

"Hey!" Volkner growled, then turned to see what had hit him and saw the badge on the floor. "What was THAT for!"

"A badge is worthless if I haven't earned it," Dawn replied. "The only way to know if I'm ready for the league or not is to earn these badges, so just being given one is worthless! If taking this challenge is the only way to battle you for that badge, then I'll do it!"

Volkner stared at Dawn for a moment before turning back to Cynthia. "And why, exactly, should I take this challenge?"

"Don't you think a battle between legendary pokemon would be fun?" she said to him. "Even if she loses, a change of pace like that could still keep things interesting."

"You might have a point there," Volkner conceded, then shrugged. "Fine then, I accept your challenge. I'll go out and find a legendary pokemon and prove there's nothing special about Dawn for it."

"And I'll find another legendary pokemon to catch and battle Volkner's with!" Dawn added in agreement.

"Try not to take too long with that," Volkner said tersely, then started to head for the door. "I'm out of here," he said, then left the building. After Volkner was gone the red-haired boy, Buck, approached Dawn.

"You'll be needing to find a legendary pokemon now, right?" Buck asked her. "I think I know where you can find one."

* * *

Author's Notes: Fell a bit behind with this chapter, though it may have been for the better. Originally I was just going to have Dawn manage to convince Volkner to battle her anyway, but came up with a better idea (in my opinion, at least) at the last minute last night when I was still finishing off the battle. This actually should tie the last bits of plot together as well.

The way the battle ends was also changed at the last minute as it was going to have Froslass using Confuse Ray on Jax instead and Jax finishing her off but then getting recalled by Dawn, leaving her with Jax still left in reserve after Auriga is knocked out beating Glaceon. So having it come down to a draw was a last minute change as well.


	60. Chapter 59: A Stark Contrast

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 59**

**A Stark Contrast**

Dawn had originally intended to wait until the next day to go after a legendary pokemon. It was already dinnertime, she had to work on getting things from her mother's place to move them to her villa, and it wasn't like she was expecting to find a legendary pokemon in mere hours.

However, Buck's story had convinced Dawn to set out right away. The location of the legendary pokemon he told her about was very close by at a place called Stark Mountain. It sounded like a promising tale, a legendary pokemon lying dormant in the heart of a volcano. According to Buck, the volcano would erupt should that pokemon become enraged and was connected to something inside Stark Mountain called a Magma Stone.

It also helped that Buck had mentioned seeing some 'goons in spacesuits'. After the incident at Mt. Coronet, it didn't surprise Dawn at all that Team Galactic might go after another legendary pokemon. Or what was left of Team Galactic, anyway. It was for these reasons that Dawn found herself standing in front of a volcano late at night, with a boy she barely knew.

"So this volcano will definitely only erupt if that pokemon is pissed off, right?" Dawn asked Buck.

"It's perfectly safe if that's what you mean," Buck replied with a shrug, then glanced over at her. "You're not getting cold feet, are ya?"

_How can I get cold feet around here?_ Dawn wondered, then shook her head. To Buck, she said, "No, I'm fine. It's not really the first time I've been in a volcano. Kinda."

"Then let's get inside already!" Buck said, then headed for the volcano's entrance. Dawn briefly contemplated why volcanoes so often seemed to have dungeon-like areas, but decided not to worry about it and followed Buck inside.

The inside of the volcano was surprisingly bright, lit by brightly glowing rocks lining the walls in areas. The rocks were being heated nearly to the point of melting, producing the glow. Further in, one would even find the odd magma pool.

"Uh... how safe is this again?" Dawn asked Buck nervously.

"As long as you know where you're going, pretty safe!" Buck replied with a grin. "Good thing you have a guide, huh?"

"I guess..." Dawn let out a sigh. "Just inside and already it's hot in here..."

"About that, the hotter areas are the most dangerous. And not because of the heat," Buck said to her. "Rather... you might sink through the ground. And then you'll burn to death in the magma below."

"Pleasant thought..." Dawn mumbled. "What part of this is supposed to be safe again?"

"The part where you've got me as a guide!" Buck reminded her. "Now let's go already!"

Buck set out through the volcanic cave with Dawn timidly following behind him. She had been through many tough situations and found herself in dangerous locations before, but this one had her more worried than any of them. To try to take her mind off that, Dawn decided to try making conversation with her guide.

"So, uh, Buck, you seem to know this place pretty well," Dawn said while glancing around nervously at the cave's rocky interior. "You obviously come here often, why's that?"

"Oh, just looking for treasure," Buck replied nonchalantly. "Wild pokemon hang out down here, too." Buck chuckled to himself. "But, man! You should see them all come running out of here at the slightest rumble!"

_Why would pokemon hang out in here if it's that dangerous!_ Dawn wondered in annoyance. She blinked a few times when she realized just how suspicious that line of thought was. _Wait, why WOULD pokemon hang out somewhere so dangerous? There couldn't possibly be any benefit to living here that'd be worth it if it really was dangerous. Then again..._ Dawn glanced at the dimly glowing rocks, a clear reminder that there were sources of magma nearby.

_This place does seem dangerous, but I think Buck's trying to scare me a bit too,_ Dawn thought. Rather than bringing this up with him, though, there was another question now bothering Dawn that she decided to ask instead. "Hey, Buck, what kind of pokemon live in here anyway?"

"What kind?" Buck snickered to himself. He then ran off ahead, moving through the cave until it opened up into a rather large, domed cavern. "See for yourself!" he said, gesturing toward the cavern ceiling. Dawn ran to catch up and looked for herself. Her jaw dropped at what she saw.

"Bats..." she mumbled upon seeing the roof of the cavern swarming with zubat and golbat. "It just had to be bats..."

"Yeah, I don't think there's any caves they won't show up in," Buck replied grimly. "Have to be careful in here. Sometimes they swoop down and try to bite you. It's not so bad with the zubats, but the golbats can take your entire arm off in one bite. And even if the bite doesn't kill you, a golbat can drink so much blood it'd just suck you dry anyway."

"You know, you're REALLY good at making this place sound more and more like a nightmare," Dawn grumbled. "Seriously, I've dealt with zubat and golbat before! They're no big deal!"

"Really? Not even our golbats?" a voice called out from somewhere within the cavern. It was only then that Dawn noticed the presence of several other humans there.

"Well let's be fair, our golbats are hardly our star pokemon," another voice said.

"Who's there! Show yourself!" Buck called out. His request was met by laughter.

"Wait a second... I know those voices!" Dawn said. "It's those commanders from Team Galactic!"

"How right you are!" a voice replied. Team Galactic Commanders Mars and Jupiter then finally revealed themselves, appearing at the top of a rather tall mound of volcanic rock. "I bet you thought you had seen the last of us, you brat, but you thought wrong!" Mars said to Dawn.

"Just because Cyrus isn't around doesn't mean we can't have a little fun our leader's absence," Jupiter added.

"Let me guess, Saturn is after the legendary pokemon here because... I don't know, you guys want a volcano base now or something? That wouldn't surprise me somehow," Dawn said to them. Buck looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, you will need to defeat us if you want to get past!" Mars said to them.

"At least, that's what we would normally say, but another girl has already come by this way and defeated us," Jupiter said with a shrug, correcting her partner. "We simply have no pokemon left to fight with. That girl was ridiculously tough..."

"Then what are you two doing making such an entrance if you're completely incapable of stopping us?" Buck asked in annoyance.

Mars shrugged. "We felt like it? Honestly, we're done with Team Galactic."

"It just isn't the same without our dear Cyrus around," Jupiter said, sighing wistfully.

Dawn slapped her hand against her forehead. _Don't tell me those two are so shallow they were only in on this because they liked Cyrus!_ she thought in disgust. _How can ANYONE like that guy!_

"By the way, it's not Saturn we came here with. It's Charon," Mars said to Dawn. "He's after the legendary pokemon here. Or rather, he plans to hold Sinnoh hostage again." Mars smirked. "He'll take the Magma Stone, enraging the legendary pokemon here and causing Stark Mountain to erupt if he doesn't get his money."

"But now that we've told you that, we're leaving," Jupiter said. The two ex-commanders then started off down the hill, only to find Buck standing in their way when they reached the bottom. Jupiter glared at him. "Problem, boy?"

"Yeah, there's a problem," Buck shot back unflinchingly. "You two are criminals. As a trainer, as well as the younger brother of one of the Elite Four, I can't let you just walk out of here. Consider yourselves under arrest."

"Hmph." Jupiter sneered. "You and what army?" No sooner had Jupiter spoken than Buck had taken a pokeball in each hand, releasing a floating, clay doll and a rather bulky-looking ghost pokemon with one eye. Both women quickly stepped back from the two menacing-looking pokemon.

"I think we forgot about that army..." Mars nervously said to Jupiter, who quickly nodded in agreement.

"And you already pointed out you don't have your's," Buck said, flashing them a grin. "Heh, these Galactic goons aren't so tough. I don't see what all the fuss was about over them and their team."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Probably because they blew up a lake, the Great Marsh, kidnapped three legendary pokemon, and almost succeeded in destroying the world by summoning and enslaving another two legendary pokemon."

"Well, whatever. All that's over now," Buck said. "Claydol, Dusknoir, stay here and keep an eye on these two. Don't let them go anywhere. Dawn and I will continue on and stop that Charon guy. Assuming whoever beat these two didn't already beat him."

"That'll probably be overkill. I don't think Charon even trains any pokemon," Dawn said. "I want to see whoever it was who beat these two though, and we're bound to run into them anyway if they're going after the legendary pokemon."

"Right." Buck nodded in agreement. "So why don't you two just chill out here with my pokemon while we finish what we came here to do!"

"Oh? So you're after that legendary pokemon too?" Mars chuckled darkly. "That girl mentioned that she was after the pokemon here. I wonder if even you will be able to defeat her?"

"Won't know until I try!" Dawn replied enthusiastically, then nodded to Buck. "Okay, let's get going already." Dawn and Buck continued on, moving up the slope that Mars and Jupiter had descended from and leaving the two ex-commanders in the care of Buck's pokemon.

The main cavern of Stark Mountain was huge and filled with many tall hills like the first one the two trainers had climbed over. It made the interior vastly unlike any volcano Dawn had ever been in while playing her video games. Volcanoes in games always seemed like nothing more than generic caves with a fire and lava motif.

In this particular volcano, the dome shape of the cavern certainly gave the impression that Dawn and Buck really were inside a volcano. But Dawn couldn't figure out why there were such tall inclines inside the volcano itself. The only explanation she could come up with was leftover magma had somehow formed the hills after the last time Stark Mountain erupted, whenever that might have been.

Reaching the opposite end of the cavern without any incident, the two trainers found themselves with one last hill to climb. Dawn followed Buck up a rocky slope that almost looked as if it had steps deliberately carved into it. At the top of that slope was a cave.

"This is the place..." Buck said as he lead Dawn inside. They didn't get far before Dawn saw a few familiar faces. They had found Charon, accompanied by two Galactic grunts, in a standoff with a blonde-haired girl that Dawn hadn't seen in a long time. She recognized the girl even though she was facing away from Dawn.

"Nina..." Dawn mumbled. The girl glanced back when she heard her speaking.

"Of all the people to run into in this place..." Nina grumbled.

"So you, too, have chased me here?" Charon said, recognizing Dawn. He chuckled to himself. "No matter. You are both too late as I now have in my possession the Magma Stone." Charon then held out the red stone he held in his hand for all to see. "With this I can control the legendary pokemon that sleeps here and cause Stark Mountain to erupt! With the threat of Stark Mountain erupting, Sinnoh will have no choice but to meet my demands!"

Charon's statement was met by silence.

"Hmm? No pithy comments to make?" Charon asked them. "No 'you're insane' or 'you won't get away with this'?" Still no response from the girls or Buck. Buck was stunned and Nina was contemplating what to do. And Dawn? Dawn was distracted by a nearby rock.

_That rock is giving off an awfully suspicious aura,_ Dawn thought. _It's almost like there's a person inside it... but that'd just be weird. I mean, who would be here hiding in a..._

"Go, go, go!" the rock suddenly cried out, startling everyone present and confirming Dawn's suspicions. A pokemon suddenly appeared and moved in a flash toward Charon, snatching the Magma Stone out of his hand. The pokemon, a croagunk, finally came to a stop behind Charon and made a sound as if snickering at him.

"The Magma Stone!" Charon glared and reached out for the pokemon. "Give that back you little..." The croagunk hopped up as Charon dove for him and quickly made its way back to the rock. Charon quickly got up, aided by the two grunts accompanying him, and turned around. "What is going on here!"

"Excellent work, Croagunk!" The person hiding in the 'rock' suddenly stood up and threw off the disguise with a look of disgust on his face. "Pah! Disguising myself as a boulder for stakeout was not easy!" After wiping some sweat off his brow, Looker moved past the stunned trainers to confront Charon directly.

"Now, old-timer, the International Police cordially requests your cooperation. I am sure you have much to tell us about the new Team Galactic. With Cyrus, Mars, and Jupiter gone, you are all that is left."

The two grunts accompanying Charon were shocked by this revealation and turned to face each other.

"It's the International Police! It really is!"

"There's only one thing to be done!"

"RUN AWAY!" they both shouted, then bolted out of the cave. Looker showed no interest in pursuing them.

_What... what is going on here?_ Dawn wondered in confusion. _Looker... the police... they're actually stopping the bad guy? But... but this doesn't make any sense!_

"Gah... What a mess..." Charon muttered under his breath. He desparately tried to think of a way out of it and eventually decided on trying to feign his innocence. "Uh, International Police? What are you saying? I know nothing! A new Team Galactic? Extorting with Heatran?" Charon laughed and waved his hand dismissively. "Merely the blathering of this harmless old man! All said in jest! Besides, among Team Galactic..."

"You can tell us all about it. We have plenty of time," Looker said with a smirk, interrupting him. "And you will agree you are quite outnumbered, no? So no resisting arrest. Officers?"

At Looker's request, a pair of officers in standard blue uniform entered the cave. "He is an old man. This heat cannot be good for him. Quickly, take him somewhere cool. Yes, the cooler will do!" The two officers nodded and each took Charon by an arm, escorting him out of the volcano.

Meanwhile, Dawn's mind was still reeling from Looker's sudden appearance and display of competance. _This... this couldn't possibly have just happened... there's no way..._

With Charon out of the way, Charon then decided to address the group of trainers gathered. "Ah, Dawn! And you, unfamiliar boy! I wish to say something."

"What about..." Dawn began to say, then stopped herself. She was going to point out Nina's presence, but the girl was no longer there.

"She left around when Looker took off his disguise," Buck explained to her. "I guess I can't blame you for not noticing, things got pretty crazy all of a sudden..."

_You can say that again!_ Dawn thought, wincing. _It isn't supposed to happen like this! The police are NEVER supposed to be competant! Especially not a comic relief detective like Looker!_

"First," Looker continued, "It is too hot! Let us exit this environment!"

* * *

The group made their way out of Stark Mountain, stopping along the way to pick up Jupiter and Mars so they could be taken into custody by Looker. The two grunts that had fled were with them as well, stopped by Buck's pokemon. As soon as they had exited the cave Looker called for more officers to take them away.

"Ah, the outside air is delicious!" Looker said after the rest of Team Galactic had been taken away. He took in a deep breath, breathing in ash and dust and immediately started coughing. "N-nevermind..."

"That was pretty stupid," Buck noted.

"Now, you two. This is what they were after," Looker said, then presented the Magma Stone, which he had retrieved from his croagunk, to them. "The Magma Stone."

"We knew that already," Dawn pointed out.

"I see! You are quite the sharp trainer indeed!" Looker said, chuckling to himself. "But did you know this? Moving this stone is said to awaken the legendary pokemon Heatran. The old tales say that its awakening, it will make Stark Mountain erupt." After a brief pause, Looker seemed to realize the implication of what he had said.

"Oh no! I have moved it! It is here! Will this cause the eruption!"

"Hey, don't sweat it stranger!" Buck said with a grin. "Give Dawn that Magma Stone and she'll go put it back for you!"

"Ah... right! I'll go do that!" Dawn said, taking the stone from Looker before he could protest. "I'll be right back!" she said, then bolted back into the volcano.

"Ah... a shame! I wanted to explain what brought me to stake out in Stark Mountain to begin with!" Looker said in dismay.

"Well, that's too bad I guess," Buck said with a shrug.

"No matter! I shall explain it to you instead, then!" Looker said to Buck.

"Right, you could just..." Buck's eyes bulged. "Wait, what!"

* * *

_I'll have to thank Buck later, that was quick thinking!_ Dawn thought as she flew through the cave. Now that she was alone, Dawn decided to let Captain Falcon out of her pokeball to fly Dawn across the cavern. They flew high enough to go over the tall hills, but not high enough to disturb the zubat and golbat hanging from the ceiling. Riding Captain Falcon, Dawn crossed the immense cavern in no time and entered the cave on the other side. Before she even went in, though, she could sense powerful aura disturbances within.

_What's going on here?_ Dawn wondered, then gasped. _Nina!_

Dawn rushed inside, but already she could see that she was too late. Nina was already locked in battle with the legendary pokemon, Heatran, awakened by the removal of the Magma Stone from the chamber. Nina was battling the legendary pokemon with what looked like some kind of pink, bipedal rhino pokemon.

"Thrasher, hit it with Earth Power!" Nina called out to her pokemon. Thrasher, a nidoking, let out a mighty roar and sent out a pulse of power into the ground. The ground under Heatran then cracked open, blasting the steel-and-magma bodied pokemon with earth energy that rose up from the cracks. Heatran groaned in pain and Dawn could feel that it was heavily weakened, barely holding on.

"That should do it this time," Nina said as she took a black pokeball in her hand. Dawn recognized it as a dusk ball, a type of pokeball that worked better at night or in dark places. Nina tossed the dusk ball at Heatran and watched intently as the pokemon was pulled inside and the ball began to shake. To Nina's relief and Dawn's dismay, the ball stopped shaking after the third time and locked shut.

"Finally," Nina muttered after the ball had disappeared. She then recalled her pokemon and turned around, finally noticing Dawn. "Oh. It's you again," Nina muttered. She then noticed the Magma Stone Dawn was carrying. "Come to return that?" She shrugged. "Hardly matters at this point."

"Yeah, guess you're right," Dawn mumbled. "Any reason you were after that pokemon?"

"If you must know, I was trying to conquer my fears. But that's hardly any of your business," Nina muttered, then started off out of the cave. "Whatever. I'm done with this region now..."

Dawn watched as Nina walked past her and left the cave, letting out a sigh once she was alone.

"So much for catching that one. I didn't even get a chance to try..." Dawn muttered. "And after Buck went out of his way to help me... but now what am I going to do?" After giving it a moment's thought, Dawn shrugged. "Guess I'll just have to try Mt. Coronet tomorrow and see if I can find anything there..."

* * *

That same night, while Dawn had been attempting to capture a legendary pokemon herself, Volkner was lying down on his hotel room bed and wondering what he should do next.

"Despite what I said, a legendary pokemon isn't just going to pop out of nowhere for me to catch it..." Volkner muttered to himself. "Where do I even begin looking for one? Mt. Coronet?"

"You won't find one there."

Volkner bolted up, quickly grabbing a pokeball from the nightstand next to his bed. At the foot of his bed now stood a girl garbed in a purple cloak, a girl he didn't see come in, hadn't noticed even there, and only vaguely recognized. "You... aren't you the girl from the wanted posters?" Volkner narrowed his eyes at her. "You've got a lot of nerve sneaking into a gym leader's room."

Dusk chuckled. "And you're naive if you think I would be caught so easily." She then smirked and folded her arms. "Now, aren't you going to ask me why I'm here?"

"Why don't you just go ahead and explain it already," Volkner spat.

"Hmph." Dusk shrugged. "Fine, I'll get straight to the point. You want to find a legendary pokemon, I want to see you battle Dawn. To that end, I am willing to lend you a legendary pokemon to battle her with."

Volkner narrowed his eyes. "And why should I trust you?"

"Would you prefer trying to find one on your own?"

"Not if I could avoid it," Volkner replied.

Dusk smirked. "Then I think we have a deal."

* * *

Author's Notes: And Nina makes her first appearance in a REALLY long time, but she didn't have a huge role to play in Sinnoh anyway. Still would have liked to have her show up more but just didn't see anywhere else to put her along the way.

So Volkner already has his legendary pokemon, borrowed from Dusk, but Dawn still has to find one. Next chapter she returns to Mt. Coronet, but will she find one there?

Well, that seems like a stupid question... but what will she find?


	61. Chapter 60: Arceus Appears

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 60**

**Arceus Appears**

11 years ago, Mt. Coronet...

The weather on Mt. Coronet as one approached the top was never fun to deal with. It was almost always snowing, and windy. Some days were worse than others. This was one of those days. The constant, driving snow was making the climb up the mountain especially difficult for the seven explorers trying to make their way to the top on this day.

Leading the group of explorers was a young, blue-haired man determined to push on through the snow and reach the top of that mountain. He was dressed for the weather, face barely visible between the hood of his thick jacket and the scarf over his neck and mouth.

"Sir! This snow is just too much!" the closest explorer, another young man, said to him. "We should turn back and wait for the snow to stop!"

"No!" the blue-haired man shouted back. "We press on until we reach the top! We're almost there!" Already the man was hastily driving spikes into another slope, hopefully the last they would have to climb before finally reaching the top.

"But the weather will be even worse up there, where we would be completely exposed!" the other explorer pleaded. Another stepped up from behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"You're wasting your time," the second explorer said. "Don't you know what happened?" The first explorer gave him a questioning look. "His wife is giving birth."

"The hell's he doing up here then! He should be with her!" Though the two were practically yelling back and forth to be heard over the wind, the blue-haired explorer either didn't hear the two or was ignoring them.

"They weren't expecting the child this early, and he wasn't going to make it in time even if he turned back when he found out!" the other explorer replied. "That's why he's so desparate to make it to the top instead!"

"Yeah, and he's going to get us all killed!"

"Have a little more faith!"

"Faith! Faith isn't..."

"GUYS!" the blue-haired man barked. "That's enough, we're moving!" The man grabbed the now secure rope and started on his way up. After getting up a few feet, he stopped and looked down at the rest of his team. "If any of you don't want to do this, then by all means stay behind! But I'm going!" He then continued to climb up the side of the mountain. Despite their previous hesitation, the rest of the explorers soon followed.

The team pushed on up the side of the mountain, through the storm. They were now well on their way to becoming the first to climb up the side of the mountain. A cave system existed within the mountain that lead most of the way already, but the group of explorers were heading all the way to the top to examine the ancient ruins there.

But doing so meant climbing through the worst of the storm. The snow and wind grew worse as they climbed to the point where the men and women could barely hang on. The blue haired man pressed on, pushing forward with raw determination.

Just when the rest of the team thought they couldn't go any further... the storm stopped. No clouds around them to indicate they might have climbed through the storm, just suddenly no snow, though it could still be seen blowing below them. While the explorers were pondering their sudden good fortune, their leader pulled himself over a ledge to the top of the mountain and found himself at the edge of the ancient ruins.

"My god..." he uttered breathlessly. "So these are the ruins... Spear Pillar. We're really at Spear Pillar..."

"There's no snow here..." another explorer commented as he emerged onto the barren mountaintop outside the ruins. "Looks like we're above the snowstorm here?"

The rest of the team finally reached the top as well, climbing over the edge and brushing off the snow covering their bodies. Still following the blue-haired man's lead, the team made their way toward the center of the ruins, moving past the tall, ornate pillars, to get a better look at the ruins. It was in the exact same spot where the leader of Team Galactic would one day summon the legendary pokemon Palkia and Dialga.

_We're here... we're really here..._ the leader thought, a smile forming on his lips. _Someday, I'll be able to tell my little girl all about it..._

Or so he thought, as fate had other plans for him and his team.

"Look! What's that up there!" a woman suddenly cried out, drawing everyone's attention to a ball of light floating in the air. The group of explorers only saw the light briefly before the entire Spear Pillar was engulfed in a flash that was witnessed from all across the Sinnoh region. The entire research team disappeared in that flash of light, never to be heard from again.

On that day, at that exact moment, Dawn was born.

* * *

Spear Pillar, present day...

Galactica, the last of a fallen criminal organization, now stood in the exact spot where seven explorers lost their lives. The same spot where, a short time ago, Cyrus summoned Palkia and Dialga into the world. Surrounding her were various plates collected from around the Sinnoh region, seventeen in total. She had been working behind the scenes to collect these plates, as directed by the voice of a mysterious being.

"All the plates have been collected and arranged," Galactica said, though there was no one else around. "I suppose now we need to find that girl..."

_Yes,_ a voice that only Galactica could hear replied. _She is the final key, though even she does not realize her importance in this. Even now, it feels as though fate directs her to us. Yes, this day, and the events that shall transpire here, were nothing less than fate._

Galactica chuckled. "You sure like to talk a lot. You think she's just going to come to us, then?"

"Huh? There's already someone here, too?" a confused voice asked, answering Galactica's question as she turned around and spotted Dawn.

"She came afterall..." Galactica muttered under her breath.

_Yes,_ the voice said to her. _Let's not waste anymore time. Give her the flute. Have her play it._

_ Patience,_ Galactica thought in response. _She'll be suspicious if I asked her to do that out of the blue. She will need convincing..._

"Are you here trying to catch a legendary pokemon too?" Dawn asked her. The situation already seemed more than a little suspicious. She could feel a strange aura emanating from the plates arranged on the ground and Galactica, wearing her brown trenchcoat, seemed like a shady character herself.

"I was," Galactica replied, then reached into her coat and pulled out an azure-colored flute that reminded Dawn of a certain ocarina. "Supposedly a legendary pokemon would appear if you played this flute. But I haven't had any luck with it, so it's useless to me." Galactica tossed the flute to Dawn, who barely caught it. "You can have it if you want."

"Umm... thanks?" Dawn said in response, blinking at the flute she now held in her hands. It was now looking as if she had blindly stumbled upon an opportunity to catch a legendary pokemon after mising out on Heatran.

_Even if she was up to no good in trying to summon a legendary pokemon, giving me the flute wouldn't do her any good because then the pokemon would probably listen to be since I used it,_ Dawn reasoned. _I bet it'll work for me just fine, too!_

Dawn moved into the center of the plates and took the flute in both hands, getting ready to play it. She was a bit hesitant at first as something about the flute's aura felt very, very odd to her. _What IS this thing anyway?_ she wondered. _I can sense... something from it. Fear. Confusion. And... sadness? Remorse?_

"Hey, what IS this flute anyway?" Dawn asked Galactica. Galactica had moved out of the ring of plates when Dawn had moved in.

Galactica shrugged. "Beats me. I don't know much about it aside from what it's supposed to do."

_But there's definitely something weird about this!_ Dawn thought, staring intensely at the flute. _It almost feels human... and there's a strange sense of familiarity._ Dawn contemplated the flute a moment longer, then shrugged.

_I'm probably worrying too much. Maybe it's just a sign that this was meant to be? And if it really is related to a legendary pokemon it probably would feel a bit odd. Maybe it's some kind of emotion pokemon like Mesprit? I think I'll try playing it._

Dawn put the flute to her mouth and began to play. Though she had never played a flute before, she played it perfectly. A haunting, chilling tune played from the flute. It was a tune that would have normally caused Dawn to stop, but now she felt compelled to continue playing. As she played her strange song on the flute, the plates encircling her began to glow.

As Galactica watched the events unfolding, a smirk began to form on her lips. "See? A little subtlty goes a long way."

_Funny, I never thought you had the intelligence for such,_ the voice replied to her. _But enough of that. I can already feel my confinement drawing to an end..._

The air above Dawn began to distort as she continued to play, driven on by some unknown desire. At first, it seemed to shimmer. Then cracks began to form, eventually breaking away to reveal a hole in time and space leading into an alternate dimension. The dimension beyond was a completely empty void, save for a rainbow-colored, crystalline object sealed within. An object that began to break apart after the hole had been opened.

_What's going on here?_ Dawn wondered, worry starting to set in. She wanted to stop playing, but she couldn't. She couldn't see the portal that had opened behind her, or the large crystal within that was beginning to break apart. But every fibre in her body was telling her that something was wrong. The fact that she couldn't stop playing the flute being a rather big one, as well as the smirk Galactica was wearing on her face.

_She knew it would work when I played it,_ Dawn realized. _She's using me to get to this legendary pokemon! But what is..._

Dawn's mind froze as she suddenly felt a powerful aura wave erupt from behind her. It was unlike anything Dawn had ever felt. Even the aura of any legendary pokemon she had encountered paled in comparison to what she felt now. What she couldn't see was the rainbow-colored crystal within the alternate dimension shattering, releasing a massive, white, quadrapedal pokemon from its prison. The opening to the void then vanished and the pokemon's huge body settled onto the stone surface of the ruins.

"At long last I have been freed from my prison," the pokemon said. Its voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. "The day of judgement has arrived once more."

Now that the legendary pokemon had finally been summoned, Dawn found herself able to remove the flute from her lips. She did so and quickly spun around to finally see for herself the creature she had helped to bring into the world. The pokemon's body was reminiscient of a deer's, with a golden 'wheel' around the midsection of its body. The pokemon stood over twice as tall as her.

"Who... are you?" Dawn asked quietly.

"I am the harbinger of life and death, the beginning and the end. I am known as Arceus," the pokemon answered. "You will soon find, however, that who I am is of little consequence. For I am about to become something much greater."

"I don't know what you're babbling about, but don't forget our deal," Galactica said to Arceus. "You said you could bring Drake back to life and promised to do so in return for my assistance in freeing you from that prison."

"Yes, that is well within the limits of the power I shall obtain." Arceus smirked. "But I won't."

"What!" Galactica growled and curled her hand into a fist. "We had a deal!"

_So this pokemon is the real villain here,_ Dawn thought, observing the exchange. _She eyed Arceus suspiciously. But what is this thing? I've never heard of it before, but it almost seems like it has something to do with..._ Dawn narrowed her eyes at it. _Me. I wonder of this is that... abomination that Dusk referred to?_

"The deal has changed," Arceus explained, its voice reverberating through the human girls' bodies.

_I can almost guess what this... thing is going to say next,_ Dawn thought, letting out a quiet sigh. _Something like, 'You have..._

"You have outlived your usefulness," were Arceus's next words, exactly as Dawn had been predicting. Like an enraged god, Arceus summoned a bolt of lightning down from the sky, striking Galactica down where she stood. She didn't even have a chance to scream. The lightning bolt killed her instantly, body collapsing into a heap. The realization of what had occurred snapped Dawn back into reality. The scene unfolding before her felt like something taken straight out of a video game, but someone dying before her very eyes reminded her that this was not a game.

_I need to get out of here and get help!_ Dawn thought as she reached for a pokeball. She grabbed the pokeball and held it out, ready to release Captain Falcon and make a hasty retreat. But her hand suddenly couldn't move. She was frozen completely in place.

"Don't think for a second that I will allow you to leave," Arceus said to her. It didn't even move or flinch, and spoke without moving his lips, but Dawn could feel it was keeping her from moving somehow. The pokemon's steely gaze was focused on her now. "Afterall, all my plotting and planning are for naught if I allow you to escape."

So I AM part of this pokemon's plan? Dawn thought, grimacing. It said it would be the end... is it going to use me to destroy the world somehow!

"You humans turned my own creations against me and sealed me away in an extradimensional space. But even that could not stop me. I was still able to influence events in this world. I could still see into this world. I used this small influence to prepare for this day, to arrange for my release."

"But how? W-why me?" Dawn asked. She tried to hide her fear but still stuttered.

"A mere coincidence," Arceus explained. "Eleven years ago, a group of humans found themselves in these very ruins. One of these humans had a daughter being born at the same time he was here. Using that, using him and the rest of those humans, I was able to connect myself to you, entwining our fates through the flute I forged from their souls."

"Their... souls?" Dawn's gaze slowly lowered to the flute she still held in her hands. Now she knew the truth behind it, and why it gave off such a strange aura. The souls of seven humans, among them her own father, had been used to create it. As the realization began to set in, Dawn's grip on the flute weakened and the instrument fell to the ground.

"Th-that flute... my father is... all this time..."

"And now I shall begin the final stage of my plan... by merging with you." As Arceus spoke to Dawn, the 'wheel' on its back began to glow.

"WHAT!" Dawn shrieked. The scenario was starting to seem incredibly surreal now. "Why would you even want to do that! I mean, sure, I can sense auras and stuff, but if that's what you're after then shouldn't you be trying to merge with that Riley guy!"

"That is of no concern to me," Arceus explained. "What I am after has nothing to do with aura. What I am after is the true power that comes from the spirit of humans and pokemon. Because of the connection we share, we shall become one, and I shall attain the true power that is my heritage as the physical embodiment of that spirit! I am Arceus! The Original One! THE GOD OF THIS WORLD!"

A golden aura surrounded Dawn's body and she started to feel strange as that aura seeped into her. She was still helpless to do anything about it, though, and soon found herself slowly being pulled toward Arceus.

"As a hybrid of a human and the ultimate pokemon, the power to shape this world, this universe, will truly be mine! No one, not Giratina, not Palkia, not even Jirachi will be able to stop me!"

"This... this can't be real... this isn't happening!" Dawn cried out in disbelief. "This has to be a dream! Looker being competent, me being absorbed by a legendary pokemon, this can't be real!"

"You choose a great time to start being whiny." Before Dawn could question the voice she heard she suddenly felt a sharp kick to her backside and found herself tumbling into darkness, falling face first into the strangely familiar purple ground that had appeared beneath her. The shock of the impact, in addition to what had just happened, left Dawn stunned momentarily. She remained lying motionless on that ground for a while, trying to piece together what had just happened.

"And now you're just going to lie there? Some 'hero' you turned out to be. Then again, you never WERE the hero. But you refused to believe that, and where has it gotten you?"

Dawn slowly raised her head and looked up at the purple-clad figure before her. "D-Dusk?"

"I take my eyes off you for one night, ONE night, and you summon the one pokemon Giratina and I were working to keep sealed away and almost let it become a true god," Dusk said bitterly. Dusk now looked down upon her with an intense glare. "Nice job breaking it, 'hero'. How the hell did you even get here, anyway? Last I saw you, you were going after Heatran. And that was just last night!"

"Someone else got it first..." Dawn mumbled as she slowly sat up. "I thought I'd try Mt. Coronet today because that seemed like an obvious choice after all that happened..."

Dusk sighed. "And, by coincidence, that weird woman collecting plates was here and had already found them all. Typical."

"You knew about this pokemon all along..."

"I suppose you have no idea what that pokemon even is, do you?" Dusk asked her. Dawn shook her head. "That pokemon was responsible for creating Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina, as well as the lake pokemon. All under his control as well, except for Giratina."

"So that thing must be a really powerful pokemon..." Dawn mumbled in disbelief. "But... was everything it said true? About my father? And the flute?"

Dusk shrugged and folded her arms. "Hell if I know, I just got here. According to Giratina, Arceus did forge a connection between your spirit and its own when you were born, and intended to use you to remove its seal. This whole hybrid thing is news to me."

"Melany mentioned something about that once..." Dawn muttered. "She said that the Original One, which I guess is Arceus, is supposed to be the physical manifestation of the spirit of humans and pokemon or something..."

"But Arceus itself is just a pokemon. So that's why it wants to merge with a human." Dusk snorted. "Kinda ironic considering Arceus considers us to be lower than bacteria. At best. At worst, Arceus hates us. It even has a special attack just for comitting genocide against us."

Dawn's eyes widened. "How are we supposed to stop that pokemon!"

"Beats me," Dusk grumbled. She turned and waved her hand, opening a window to see into the real world. The image displayed was that of Spear Pillar, though now all the pillars lie cracked and broken. Arceus was running around the ruins, stomping the ground in a rage. "Looks pretty pissed too. I want to go out there and stop it, but my pokemon would get stomped flat. We can't approach this without a plan, one that involves sealing Arceus away..."

"How was that thing sealed away in the first place?" Dawn asked. "And why does it hate humans so much?"

"From what I understand, it hates humans because once upon a time some human tried to control it. It was understandably upset but also offended because, again, Arceus thinks very little of humans. As for how it got sealed away..." Dusk pondered a moment whilst watching Arceus through her 'window', still stomping around Spear Pillar in a rage.

"Well, Arceus can't reach us here anyway," Dusk said. "So why don't I just tell you the story that Giratina told me..."

* * *

Author's Notes: Fairly short chapter. Hope it wasn't too hard to follow. Though I did hint at it a bit, Arceus being the villain might be a bit of a surprise. Actually even with the hinting, this really needed a lot more set-up. Part of it came with the bit at the beginning, which I was originally contemplating using as a prologue for the Sinnoh Saga itself. Then there's the story Dusk is about to tell in the next chapter.

The other part that'd give a better understanding of all this would be the 'true' creation myth I have planned to write at some point for the Pokemon Legends world. Calling it a 'creation myth' would be a bit misleading though. It'd be better desribed as a 'destruction myth'. Maybe I'll try to work on that too this week if I find the time, though that particularly story I intend to post as a oneshot tie-in rather than as part of any saga or anything since it's also meant to be an alternate interpretation of the Original One myth in general. Afterall, a myth is called a myth because it isn't true. Doesn't mean there isn't SOME truth to it, though...


	62. Chapter 61: A God Scorned

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 61**

**A God Scorned**

In modern times, pokemon attacks on humans are rare. Though encounters between humans and pokemon in the wild occur frequently, most pokemon seek only to battle against trainer's to test their own might or to test the trainer to see if he or she is worthy of capturing the pokemon. Pokemon with no interest in trainers tend to avoid contact, hiding when they become aware of the presence of humans in the area. Rare is the pokemon that will attack humans directly out of malice or hunger.

In ancient times, however, this was not the case. Before humans began to tame and capture pokemon, many wild pokemon considered them to be nothing more than prey. Aerodactyl's, referred to as 'ptera', were especially terrifying. These pokemon would swoop down upon an unsuspecting human and snatch them up in their powerful jaws, killing them instantly and taking their prey back to their nest to feed. Wild pokemon, ptera especially, were feared and loathed by humans.

It was this situation that lead one primitive human to seek revenge against pokemon. An older man wandered the rocky wastelands of an ancient world where plant life, aside from that grown by humans, was fairly scarce.

This particular human was wandering alone in this harsh environment because he had recently lost his family, his wife and children, to wild aerodactyl. Snatched up and carried away from his small village, back to their nest where the wild pokemon would consume their prey. It was too late for anything to be done for them. He felt as though his own life had been stolen from him and had little will to continue on. All he felt now was rage. Rage against the pokemon that took his family away.

"Filthy creatures..." the man cursed under his breath. "I would give anything for the chance to destroy them. Hunt them down, find their nest, and kill them all. Kill them all like they killed my loved ones..."

It was during this journey, with a heart longing for revenge, that the man stumbled upon a strange white rock. In the barren terrain, the white rock definitely stood out but the human still only noticed the rock as he was almost tripping over it. Any other day, he might have stopped to inspect such an odd find. Strange artifacts or crystalline objects often turned out to be useful tools to aid in humanity's survival against the pokemon.

Instead, he just kicked it angrily and continued on his way. He only stopped to give it a second glance after noticing it glowing out of the corner of his eye.

"What the..."

The rock the human had kicked suddenly shattered and from it emerged a small creature that looked like a human baby wrapped in a yellow cloth and wearing a rather large, oddly-shaped hat on its head. The creature slowly floated up until it was eye level with the man and then unwrapped itself, giving it two wing-like appendages that, combined with the head, made it look like a star. The creature looked around, then noticed the human standing before it.

"Oh, a human already?" the creature, Jirachi, said questioningly. Jirachi bowed in the air to the human. "I'm Jirachi, granter of wishes."

"You... you speak our language?"

"I speak all languages! It's helpful for someone that's supposed to grant wishes," Jirachi replied. "Anyway, if you want to make a wish, then write it on one of my ribbons, okay?"

The man considered the offer for a moment. "Any wish I want?" he asked Jirachi. The pokemon nodded affirmatively. "I see..." The man licked his finger and then rubbed it in the dirt. "Then this is what I wish for..."

* * *

Meanwhile, nearby, two dragon pokemon hovered over a small human village, silently observing it from the air.

_"This village has been progressing surprisingly well compared to the other settlements, hasn't it brother?"_ the red-colored dragon, Latias, asked the other telepathically.

_"It's because we have been keeping watch over it, and keeping the creatures called ptera at bay,"_ Latios replied telepathically. _"Though other villages have managed despite the constant threat, this one has been thriving with the threat eliminated completely. But these humans are proving to be quite resourceful, so it may not be long before they can deal with ptera on their own."_

Latias let out a telepathic sigh. _"I hope you're right. We shouldn't be interfering like this..."_

_ "Sometimes, one can't be content to just sit by idly and observe. Otherwise, if something happened, we would be guilty of negligence for our inaction,"_ Latios explained. _"We must help to ensure the survival of humans as a species if we are to continue studying them, afterall."_

Latias contemplated her brother's words, realizing them to be true. Though they didn't know why, the Soul Dew, a sentient crystal which Latias and Latios were deeply connected to, had requested the two dragons keep watch over humanity and make note of its progress. Her thoughts were interrupted by a crack of thunder echoing throughout the land.

_"Thunder?"_ Latias wondered in bewilderment. _"But the sky is perfectly clear!"_

_"I don't think that was a normal thunderclap,"_ Latios said to her, then turned around in the air. _"It sounded like it came from this direction. Let's move!"_

Latias and Latios took off at an incredible speed toward the source of the thunder-like boom they heard earlier. When they arrived at the location, in the middle of nowhere, they found only a distraught Jirachi waiting and quickly landed next to it.

_"You there. Did something happen here?"_ Latios asked telepathically.

Jirachi staggered back in shock when it heard Latios communicating telepathically. For a moment it stared in confusion at the two dragons, then nodded. "Y-yeah, I granted a human's wish just now..." Jirachi replied, then pointed to the top of its head. "See, the ribbon that used to be here is gone now, used up by that guy's wish..."

_"So you're a wish-granting pokemon then..."_ Latios murmured telepathically. _"And what did this human wish for?"_

"He wished to control the most powerful pokemon so he could use it to take revenge for his family, who had been killed by ptera..." Jirachi replied, shoulders drooping. "But because of the way my power works, that wish will be taken literally. He'll only control that pokemon until he gets his revenge..."

_"So we could have a powerful pokemon going on a rampage because of this."_ Latias frowned and looked to her brother. _"Isn't this just wonderful?"_

_ "'A' powerful pokemon,"_ Latios reiterated. _"We are powerful pokemon ourselves, sister, and can use the Soul Dew to further increase our power. I am sure we can handle this pokemon if necessary."_

_"Then we should set out immediately so we shall be prepared,"_ Latias said, then turned to Jirachi. _"Which direction did the human take this pokemon?"_

"That way," Jirach replied, pointing off in the distance behind them. "Mind if I go with you?" he then asked, directing the question to Latios. "I still have two wishes left, so I might be able to help if things turn out badly."

Latios smirked. _"Your assistance will be appreciated,"_ he replied. Then he turned to Latias and said, _"Sister, go retrieve the Soul Dew. We may need it if things get out of hand."_

_"On it,"_ Latias replied, then quickly flew off into the sky. Latios then turned and nodded to Jirachi.

"Let's go." Jirachi nodded in agreement and climbed onto Latios's back. The two then took off after the unnamed pokemon summoned by Jirachi.

* * *

Meanwhile, the human that had wished to control the most powerful pokemon was now riding on that pokemon's back toward his intended targets. The pokemon, of course, was none other than Arceus. The large, white furred pokemon, a pokemon that considered itself a god, had a vacant look in its eyes and responded to every command the human gave to him.

"There they are..." The human growled. "The filthy creatures that killed my family..."

The man and the pokemon hovered in the air over the side of a mountain. A pair of aerodactyl, aka ptera, could be seen nesting on a rocky outcropping. The ptera themselves were now fast asleep, resting now that they have had their meal. The outcropping was covered in blood and the human could barely stand to look at what remained of his family. Rage began to boil inside him at the sight and he quickly made his wishes known.

"Destroy them," he uttered in bitter rage.

Being under the man's complete control, Arceus had no choice but to obey. Arceus let out a mighty roar and the golden ring around its body began to glow. A barrage of lasers, far too many to be counted, obliterated the rocky outcropping completely but the unconscious, fainted forms of the two ptera rolled down the side of the mountain and out of the blast.

"Resilient beasts..." the man growled. He gave a wave of his hands and said, "Finish them."

Arceus obeyed and fired another round of lasers at the two unconscious pokemon. An explosion engulfed them as the lasers blasted the mountainside. When the dust settled, nothing remained but scattered craters.

"Too easy," the man muttered. Though he was impressed by the amount of destruction Arceus was capable of, seeing the ptera killed off so quickly and painlessly left him feeling empty. In the end, the revenge he had gotten did little for him. Instead it only left him desiring more. Killing the two ptera responsible for his family's death wouldn't satisfy him. No, he would go after the species as a whole and wipe them out, getting revenge for himself and every other human in the world who has lost a loved one to the beasts.

Or at least, that was what he wanted to do, but he would never get the chance. Having made a wish specifically to gain revenge for his family's death, the effects of that wish were now wearing off. The vacant look in Arceus's eyes began to fade and it became aware of its surroundings, of what had transpired, and of the human that now rode on his back. Feeling rage welling up within it, Arceus twisted its body and flicked the human off and into the mountain side. The man hit the mountainside hard. Landing on his back, he shattered several bones, spine included, and had the wind knocked out of him. He tried to yell in anger at this sudden betrayal but his mouth wouldn't move.

"FILTHY CREATURE!" Arceus bellowed, voice echoing throughout the mountain. "You would DARE to take command of a GOD! You, who are but a mere INSECT!"

The human tried to reply, to say something in his defense and question why Arceus was no longer under his control, but his mouth still refused to move. He tried to move his body, but it only responded with pain.

"I should have destroyed your pathetic species when I had the chance." The gold wheel on Arceus's back began to glow. "I will rectify that now. Starting with you!" A barrage of lasers fired out from the wheel, blasting the side of the mountain again. The human didn't even have time to brace himself before getting completely vaporized.

"I will remove ALL of you pathetic worms from this world!" Arceus declared, then rose up into the air until it was level with the top of the mountain and then moved to hover over it. The wheel on Arceus's back began to glow, gathering energy for a far more powerful version of its attack. By spreading its attack over a large area, Arceus intended to eradicate all human settlements.

A searing ray of light striking Arceus in the face managed to disrupt that attack. Arceus shook off the hit and growled. "Who DARES to attack me!"

_"Me,"_ Latios replied telepathically as he and Jirachi finally arrived on the scene. Latios came to a stop and Jirachi hopped off his back to float in the air beside him. _"I can understand your hatred for the human who made that wish, but should all of humanity suffer for his mistake?"_

"If I say they will suffer then they will suffer!" Arceus shot back, then glared at Latios. "Do you mean to protect these worthless creatures?"

_"As far as I'm concerned, that's part of my job,"_ Latios said to Arceus.

"And I need to make up for the trouble being caused by the wish I granted!" Jirachi added.

"So even pokemon turn against me..." Arceus muttered. For once, he didn't sound angry about this, but rather disappointed. "Then this world is a failure. I will have no choice but to destroy it and start over."

_"I don't think that decision is your's to make,"_ Latios shot back. _"But you're forgetting something much more important. Namely, the two opponents now before you."_

Arceus's laughter echoed all around them. "Really? You two think you can stand against ME!" Arceus laughed again. "Even without my plates you are no match for me!" The wheel on its back then began to glow, preparing to attack.

_"I think you underestimate us!"_ Latios replied, a blue glow forming in his eyes. Realizing what Latios was doing, Jirachi followed suit. A blue aura, matching their eyes, then surrounded Arceus as they assaulted it with a psychic attack. Despite all their effort, however, the attack seemed to be doing little other than slowing Arceus down.

"This pokemon is just too powerful for us!" Jirachi exclaimed.

"Good to see we're finally on the same page," Arceus said. "Now die." Latios and Jirachi immediately stopped their attacks as a heavy barrage of lasers launched from Arceus's wheel. The lasers zeroed in on the two pokemon and gave them little time to react. Latios and Jirachi were each engulfed in an explosion and began plummeting toward the ground. Arceus grinned as it watched them fall.

"And now to finish you." The golden wheel on Arceus's back began to glow as it prepared to attack again, only to be disrupted when a large ball of light suddenly smashed it in the face and left it briefly dazed. Latias had finally arrived on the scene, though now there was a purple aura around her. Arceus shook itself out of the daze and then glared at the new arrival. "More pokemon interfering!"

_"Well I'm certainly not going to just hover here while you kill my brother,"_ Latias said telepathically. _"You're a powerful pokemon, but can even you match the power of myself and the Soul Dew!"_

"I am not a powerful pokemon..." Arceus growled as the wheel on its back began to glow again. "I AM A GOD!" Another barrage of lasers fired out, this time all of them homing in on Latias. She became engulfed in an explosion that continued to grow as more and more lasers struck her. The attack lasted mere seconds but, by the time Arceus had finished, Latias had endured exactly one thousand laser blasts, leaving only a cloud of smoke when the explosions finally stopped.

"That is the end for you..." Arceus muttered. Then, to its utter shock, the smoke cleared and Latias was still floating in the air and looked as though she had barely taken any damage. She was soon joined by Jirachi and Latios, whom had managed to stop themselves before hitting the ground and were now rejoining the fight. Only Latios showed any noticeable signs of damage with a few scorch marks on his body.

"IMPOSSIBLE! My power is unmatched!" Arceus said in shocked disbelief.

Latios smirked. "To be fair, we haven't quite matched your power. We've surpassed it. The three of us combined are far more powerful than you. Everyone, attack!"

Jirachi's eyes flashed and a blue glow surrounded Arceus, holding it in place while trying to crush it. Latios and Latias then simultaneously launched their own attacks, Latias launching a large ball of light while Latios fired a beam. Jirachi released its psychic hold on Arceus just before the dragon twin's attacks hit. The two attacks hit Arceus at the same time, creating an explosion that threw Arceus back and slammed it into the side of the mountain.

"That looked like it hurt!" Jirachi said. Latios and Latias nodded in agreement. Arceus slowly picked itself up, obviously suffering quite a bit by now, and glared at the three pokemon.

"Not very impressive for a pokemon claiming it'll destroy everything," Latios taunted Arceus. "Can't even take on three pokemon that just happened to show up?"

"Don't presume... I've been defeated..." Arceus said wearily. Its body then shimmered as a pulse of energy flowed through it, healing much of the damage that had been inflicted on it. "So you're better than I thought you were... then I'll just need reinforcements." Arceus then closed its eyes and focused.

"Reinforcements?" Latias wondered. "Where is it getting reinforcements fr-EEEEEKKKK!" Latias shreeked and wheeled back as a set of claws suddenly pierced through the air in front of her, coming seemingly from out of nowhere. Another set of claws then emerged and the two of them pulled the air apart, tearing a hole in reality.

"Meet Palkia," Arceus said as a large, pink lizard emerged from that hole. Then another pokemon suddenly appeared out of nowhere, shimmering into existance. "And Dialga. My own creations with power over space and time respectively. I'm sure you will find these two together to be more than a match for you. Palkia, Dialga, use your strongest attacks on them."

Palkia and Dialga then proceeded to demonstrate their power. Palkia slashed at the air with one hand. The air rippled around Palkia's claws, sending out a blast of energy toward Latias. Meanwhile, time seemed to slow down around Dialga as the gear on its back began to glow. Dialga then let out a mighty roar, sending a blast of blue energy at Latios. Latios managed to get off a Protect before Dialga's attack reached him, forming a blue bubble to block it, while Latias took a direct hit from Palkia's attack. The attack hurt her immensely, the energy searing her body, but she was able to endure it thanks to her power boost from the Soul Dew.

_"Those attacks... we're weak to them..."_ Latias said weakly. She then closed her eyes and focused. Her body shimmered as energy flowed through her, restoring much of her strength.

_"We definitely can't take them on, but they seem to be under that pokemon's control,"_ Latios said, directing his telepathic message to Latias and Jirachi. _"Jirachi, are there any limits to your wishes?"_

"Any wish written on one of my ribbons will come true," Jirachi replied quietly. Latios nodded.

_"In that case, there's a wish I would like to make," _Latios said, then moved behind Jirachi. Using his power and focusing psychic energies on one of Jiachi's ribbons, Latios began to burn his wish into it.

"Your resiliency is astounding, withstanding the attacks of even Palkia and Dialga," Arceus said to them. "But your resiliency can only last so long, and my creations have yet to even show you what their powers are capable of. Palkia, Dialga, attack again." The two dragon pokemon nodded and then moved to make another attack.

_"Are you sure you want to do that?"_ Latios asked them telepathically, making sure only Palkia and Dialga could hear him. As he spoke, the ribbon he wrote his wish on burned up and both of Arceus's dragons actually stopped their attacks. _"Do you really want to do this? To follow Arceus's orders? And to allow this being to wipe out every living thing on this planet?"_

The two pokemon looked at each other and then turned to face Arceus.

"-ARCEUS, IS THIS TRUE?-" Dialga's voice boomed. Its voice could be heard before it even opened its mouth and echoed after it finished speaking. "-FOR WHAT PURPOSE COULD YOU POSSIBLY WISH TO DESTROY EVERY CREATURE ON THIS PLANET?-"

"You DARE to question me!" Arceus yelled in response. "Do you forget who created you!"

"-It seems we are capable of doing so now, yes,-" Palkia responded, the pitch and tone of its voice fluctuating as it spoke without making its message any harder to understand to those who could. "-And this rage speaks ill of you, master. Has your purpose, as well as our own, not been fulfilled when we created this world?-"

"I have deemed this world unworthy and therefore intend to start over!" Arceus shot back. It shot a glare at its subordinates. "But what treachery is this? How is it you have come to be able to question my command?"

"-It seems we have been given a will of our own now,-" Palkia replied, then raised one clawed hand over its head. "-And we shall exercise our will.-" Palkia then made a downward slash, cutting into the fabric of reality and causing a blast of energy to be released from the brief and sudden vacuum that formed. Arceus growled in pain as the blast of energy struck it and dissipitated.

"-THE FUTURE OF THIS WORLD WILL BE PROTECTED,-" Dialga declared, then joined in the assault. The gear on its back began to glow and Dialga let out a roar, firing a blast of energy from its mouth that was drawn from all across time. Carrying much greater power than Palkia's own attack, the blast threw Arceus into the side of the mountain. It hit right next to an Arceus-shaped imprint left from when Latios, Latias, and Jirachi did the same.

_"They turned on their creator!"_ Latias said in disbelief, then turned to her brother. _"Brother, what did you wish for to cause this?"_

_"I merely wished that these pokemon, Dialga and Palkia, could think on their own,"_ Latios replied. _"They're attacking Arceus because they refuse its ideals."_

As Arceus got up again, it looked upon its two creations with utter hatred. "You two... will regret... ATTACKING Me-ARGH!" Arceus was caught off guard by another attack, one which seemed to come out of nowhere as almost a dozen aura spheres appeared and struck Arceus simultaneously. The attacks had been launched by Dialga, who had stopped time to launch several Aura Spheres and then resumed time to allow them to hit Arceus. Without its plates, Arceus was weak to such a technique and dropped instantly from the barrage.

"It seems the power of its creations greatly rivals its own," Latios noted telepathically.

"-If Arceus had its plates, this would have ended much differently I assure you,-" Palkia said, turning to face Jirachi and the twin dragons. "-However, we are not finished yet. Arceus will likely regain consciousness momentarily. I could seal it away in an alternate dimension, but this would likely be a temporary solution at best.-"

"We could create a prison of some sort with another wish," Jirachi suggested. "But then someone might find it and set it free."

_"Then we'll just have to use both methods,"_ Latios said. _"Palkia, you throw Arceus into an alternate dimension, but keep a hole open so we can see it. Then, I'll use Jirachi's last ribbon to create a prison that will seal it away. That would likely be the best solution."_

"-THIS SOLUTION IS FOR THE BEST, BUT TAKE HEED: TIME IS INFINITE, WITH INFINITE POSSIBILITIES,-" Dialga said to them. "-IT IS INEVITABLE THAT SOMEDAY ARCEUS WILL REGAIN FREEDOM AND RESUME ITS GOALS. WE MUST BE PREPARED TO STOP IT AGAIN WHEN THIS DAY COMES.-"

Thus, using Palkia's power, a portal was opened to an alternate dimension completely devoid of existance. Arceus's unconscious form was launched into this void. Then Latios made a wish with Jirachi's power, wishing for a prison that even Arceus couldn't break free from. A multicolor, crystalline prison formed around Arceus, sealing it in a prison within an empty void.

With Arceus sealed, the legendary pokemon that had fought that day all departed. Latios and Latias returned to the village they had dedicated themselves to protecting, both now determined to ensure humanity's safety even if it meant directly interfering in their lives. Jirachi was sealed in another rock after its last wish had been used and would remain there for another thousand years. Palkia and Dialga, meanwhile, went their separate ways, each departing to their own dimensions where they could rest in peace.

* * *

"But Dialga's warning came true..." Dawn muttered, then raised an eyebrow at Dusk when she realized something. "Wait, Giratina wasn't even there! How did it know!"

"Giratina has always kept watch over this world ever since Arceus banished it for going rogue," Dusk replied. "Unlike Dialga and Palkia, Giratina was never under Arceus's command. It was born out of his sight."

Dawn's eyes then went to the window showing them the view of Spear Pillar, realizing that Giratina likely used the same method. However, when she looked she noticed Arceus had finally come to a stop in its rage. It was in the middle of the circle of plates, all of which were now glowing.

"Dusk... what kind of power do those plates give Arceus?"

"When all sixteen plates are gathered, Arceus has power several magnitudes greater than any legendary pokemon." Dusk turned to look at the window. "Given the circumstances, I would say Arceus is about to use its ultimate attack. Final Judgement. A more powerful version of its Judgement technique."

Dawn swallowed nervously. "And... how powerful is that version of its technique?"

Dusk shrugged. "At a guess, I'd say powerful enough to level the Sinnoh region. If not more..."

Dawn was shocked by this revealation. She could only look on in horror now as the wheel on Arceus's back began to glow. Arceus was now preparing to deliver its judgement upon the world.

* * *

Author's Notes: History chapter! Haven't done one of those in a while, though I didn't actually label this as a history chapter since its actually tied into the story. Wasn't it nice of Arceus to hold off destroying everything until after Dusk told her story, though?

For those of you who have read the other history chapters, this one actually takes place long before any of them during a time when humanity was recovering from a great catastrophe. And as for the rest of Arceus's backstory, I'm actually going to hold off on that. There's a scene I want to include in HG/SS that actually ties into that part much better and the scene actually works better if the revealation isn't made before then.

This chapter still gives Arceus's motivation for wanting to restart the world. 'Cause its a god, goddamnit! It won't stand for a world where people and pokemon would turn on it! Especially if it created those pokemon!


	63. Chapter 62: Wrath of Arceus

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 62**

**Wrath of Arceus**

After running around Spear Pillar for a while, Arceus stopped, finally coming to its senses. "Nevermind those two... I can track them down later..." Arceus muttered bitterly, turning its head to the circle of plates still spread out on the ground. "I can still destroy this world. Perhaps THAT will lure them out."

Arceus moved into the center of the circle of plates and began drawing power from them. The wheel on its back began to glow as energy built up for Arceus's attack.

"I will scour all living creatures from this world! Its future shall be MINE to dictate!"

The glow of the wheel on Arceus's back continued to increase in intensity, building in power. It was almost ready to fire when suddenly several balls of shadowstuff slammed into it, disrupting the attack. The glowing faded and Arceus's wheel was now a sickly green color instead of gold. In an act of desperation, Dusk had arrived on the scene with a handful of ghost pokemon - Reaper the dusknoir, Freezer the froslass, Caster the mismagius, Charger the rotom, and Seeker the banette. Dusk and five ghost pokemon had all emerged from separate vortexes simultaneously.

"No one's going to be destroying any worlds today," Dusk said determinedly. Her pokemon all nodded and quickly crowded around her to protect Dusk from any potential counter attack.

"And who's going to stop me? You?" Arceus sneered. "Don't make me laugh. Even Giratina would be out of its league when I have access to all sixteen plates. A mere human and her pokemon stand no chance against the likes of me. You should have stayed in Giratina's world, you foolish little child."

"Well I couldn't exactly sit by idly while you were about to blast Sinnoh to smitherenes," Dusk said to Arceus. "And while none of my pokemon might be as powerful as you are, I've still got numbers on my side. Among other things."

"Ah, yes, you have Giratina's powers, don't you?" Arceus mumbled darkly. "I'm surprised Giratina isn't here to try to stop me. Instead, I face its lackey, a mere human child." Arceus chuckled. "You are far out of your league, child."

"You're pretty powerful," Dusk admitted. "But my pokemon and I are not backing down."

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the torn world, Dawn was watching the scene unfold through the 'window' Dusk had left for her.

"That should be me out there..." Dawn mumbled quietly. "It's my fault this happened, so I should be fighting Arceus. But if I went out there, then that'd make Arceus even more powerful. I think. I can't believe I'm rooting for Dusk..." As Dawn finished speaking, she felt the aura of a dark presence begin to swirl around her.

A voice spoke to Dawn that sounded like a symphony of tortured souls speaking. "Dusk... can't win..."

"Wh-what!" Dawn looked around in confusion. "Who's there, and what's that supposed to mean!"

"Dusk... is cursed..." the voices whispered. "She is doomed to fail..."

Dawn shook her head. "No! I don't believe that!" she said defiantly. "If Dusk is determined enough to win then I'm sure she'll pull it off!"

"Believe what you will..."

* * *

"Freezer, Caster, Charger, Seeker, attack Arceus with Shadow Ball! Reaper, use Will-o-Wisp!" Four of Dusk's pokemon began gathering balls of shadowstuff before them, with Seeker and Freezer cupping their hands. They then flung the balls at Arceus and managed to hit it in the face, though Arceus barely recoiled from the attack.

While the rest of Dusk's pokemon were attacking with Shadow Ball, Reaper cupped his hands and then launched a stream of purple flames at Arceus. The flames zigzagged through the air, the simultaneous blow from four shadow balls managing to at least distract Arceus from reacting to Reaper's attack. The flames hit the front of Arceus and burst, leaving a nasty burn.

"Grr... a pitiful effort at best..." Arceus growled. Its body shimmered and the burn was quickly removed. A smirk then formed on the pokemon's face. "Now... it's my turn." Arceus quickly gathered a relatively small amount of energy from the plates surrounding it, denying Dusk any chance of preventing its attack. Then, taking aim at Dusk's Caster, Arceus fired a small barrage of lasers. The lasers fired off in all directions from the wheel on its back, but then homed in on Caster and struck it simultaneously. Caster cried out in pain and then dropped toward the ground, but Dusk quickly opened a vortex to catch it.

"Guess status effects won't work. Time to try a different approach then," Dusk said quietly, then extended a hand toward Arceus to direct her pokemon to attack. "Reaper, try using Curse this time! Everyone else, hit Arceus with your strongest attacks!"

Freezer was the first one to attack, making her attack by launching a blast of snow and ice at Arceus. Arceus barely flinched as the attack hit it, covering its body in a thin layer of frost. The frost quickly melted away. Arceus hardly looked like it had felt the attack at all.

Charger and Seeker followed up by throwing more shadow balls at Arceus. They each formed a ball of shadowstuff, Seeker cupping its hands to form the ball between them. Charger lurched and Seeker thrust its hands forward, simultaneously launching the shadow balls at Arceus. The two attacks struck near the base of Arceus's neck, earning a quiet grunt from it.

Finally came Reaper's attack. A dark aura surrounded Reaper and eventually took the shape of a needle, which stabbed into him. Another dark aura then descended upon Arceus, placing a curse on the legendary pokemon that would slowly sap its strength.

"A valiant effort," Arceus said, noting the curse now upon it. The curse was obviously causing harm to it, but Arceus didn't seem too bothered. The reason why soon became obvious as Arceus became bathed in a golden light emanating from its wheel, removing the dark influence of the curse.

"Your corrupted techniques will have no effect on me, child. Not while I have this power."

_Wonderful, it's conveniently able to deal with my best options for hurting it,_ Dusk thought. She raised her hand and focused the power of the griseous orb. _Better call for reinforcements._

Several vortexes began to open and more of Dusk's pokemon began to emerge, another six pokemon to bring the total up to ten appeared and formed a semi-circle around Arceus. Stalker the Cacturne, Burner the Chandelure, Mourner the Marowak, Seer the Xatu, Walker the Golurk, and Mummifier the Cofagrigus.

Arceus sneered at the new arrivals. "So you've brought reinforcements." Arceus laughed at them. "By all means, bring as many as you'd like! You still have no chance against me, and your numbers are about to become much thinner!"

Arceus had been gathering energy from the plates while it was speaking and was now ready to fire. A barrage of lasers shot out from its wheel, some homing in on Reaper while the rest targetted Freezer. The two ghost pokemon cried out in pain and collapsed. Dusk quickly opened vortexes to recall them.

_My pokemon just keep dropping like flies,_ Dusk bitterly thought to herself. _I need to come up with a strategy fast or Arceus is just going to knock out every pokemon I have!_ Dusk looked around at her pokemon, considering her options. Eventually her gaze fell upon Mummifier. _Maybe, just maybe..._

"Mummifier, get in close and use Disable!"

The coffin-shaped ghost pokemon Mummifier moved toward Arceus as fast as it could, though it was easily one of Dusk's slowest pokemon. It floated in the air but the bottom of the coffin would still drag against the ground. Arceus seemed to be ready for Mummifier by the time it got in close. It reared up on its hind legs and slammed down on top of Mummifier with incredible force, knocking out the ghost pokemon almost instantly and sent out a shockwave that shook and cracked the Spear Pillar. The shockwave failed to reach any of Dusk's pokemon, however.

"Did you really think I would..." Arceus began to say, but was caught off guard by the shadow tendrils that reached up from Mummifier's unconscious form and began to wrap around it. "What the... what trickery is this!" It yelled in confusion. The shadowy, bandage-like tendrils wrapped around Arceus, giving it the appearance of a large, black mummy.

"Mummifier's special ability, Mummy," Dusk replied smugly. "Upon physical contact, it mummifies the opponent and negates its special abilities. And now that your ability to use the plates has been nullified, time to finish this! Everyone, use..." Dusk trailed off as a golden light shone blasted out from between the wrappings. "Oh you have got to be kidding me..."

The shadowy wrappings covering Arceus's body began to tear away, allowing more light to shine outward. Within seconds, the effects of Mummifier's ability had been completely negated and the last of the shadowy wrappings were blasted away by the golden light. The last wrapping to be removed from around Arceus's head revealed a wide grin on his face.

"Did you REALLY think that would work?" Arceus asked her.

"I'm not even sure now why I expected it to..." Dusk grumbled. "Everyone, don't hold back! Hit Arceus with everything you've got!"

Dusk's pokemon immediately began their attack, seven pokemon hurling a variety of attacks at Arceus. Seeker, Charger, and Burner all attacked with Shadow Ball again. They each formed and hurled a ball of shadowstuff at Arceus but, predictably, it had little effect. Arceus endured the attacks with little effort, hardly flinching as each ball smashed into it and dissipitated.

"You never learn, do you?" Arceus growled.

Seer, the xatu, was up next. Seer's eyes flashed blue and Arceus's body then began to glow as Seer focused its psychic power on it. The attack ended up putting far more strain on Seer than Arceus. Arceus didn't even show any reaction to the psychic force trying to crush its body, while Seer was clearly concentrating as hard as it could. Eventually the glowing faded and Seer nearly collapsed from the mental strain its attack had caused it.

"Your pitiful attacks cannot harm me."

Mourner's attack followed next. Mourner raised its thick, heavy bone club over its shoulder and then hurled it toward Arceus. The bone club smacked into Arceus's left flank and bounced off, actually managing to push Arceus aside slightly. The bone continued to sail through the air and eventually circled around, coming at Arceus again from the other side. Another hit, pushing Arceus slightly before the bone finally returned to Mourner's hand.

"Your end draws near."

Finally came Stalker and Walker's attacks. Stalker pointed one arm at Arceus, using the other to hold it like a cannon, and then fired several seeds at Arceus's face that exploded on contact. Walker, meanwhile, stomped the ground hard to send a shockwave out toward Arceus. The ground underneath Arceus then began to shake and crack, but still barely even threw the legendary pokemon off balance.

_I don't get it! What's with this insane level of power!_ Dusk wondered, grimacing. _I knew Arceus would be powerful, but this is ridiculous! All those attacks and I barely got a reaction! It's almost as if its been..._ Dusk's eyes widened in shock, finally realizing now why her pokemon's attacks did so little.

"Your time... is up." The wheel on Arceus's back flashed and fired a huge barrage of lasers, more than any of its attacks thus far. Arceus had been building up energy until then in between Dusk's attacks. The lasers it now fired homed in on each of Dusk's pokemon, blasting each of them with dozens of small lasers and engulfing them in an explosion. When the explosions ended, none of Dusk's pokemon remained conscious.

"Well so much for that..." Dusk muttered. With a wave of her hand she opened a vortex near each of her fainted pokemon so a pair of shadowy hands could pull them inside. "Then I guess it's just me now."

This statement from Dusk earned the most thunderous roar of laughter from Arceus yet.

"Y-you! Seriously!" Arceus choked out in between bouts of laughter. "What could YOU possibly do against ME!"

"I have a few tricks up my sleeve," Dusk replied. She ignored Arceus's laughter and awaited its next move. Truthfully, she only had one option left to try to hold off Arceus on her own. She would turn its own power against it by using conveniently placed vortexes to and from the torn world. Already she was focusing the power of the griseous orb hidden in her cloak, ready to open the necessary vortexes.

Eventually, Arceus finally calmed down and sneered at Dusk. "Really though, what could you even hope to do against me? Turn my own power back against me?" Dusk flinched. Arceus was on to her. "Really, even with that you don't stand a chance. You see instead of attacking you I'll just tap into my plates and use their power to destroy the entire region. You will have no means of stopping me in the meantime."

The wheel on Arceus's back began to glow again, as did the plates as Arceus began drawing in an immense amount of power. So much power that the debris scattered around Arceus from the repeated earthquakes was blasted out in every direction. Arceus was getting ready to rain destruction across the Sinnoh region.

"It figured me out!" Dusk realized in shock. A feeling of helplessness began to set in and Dusk's hands began to shake. "What do I do now? What the hell do I do now!"

"And now, say goodbye to your pathetic species." Arceus reared back on its hind legs and fired a continuous burst of lasers into the air. The lasers went straight up and then... disappeared. "WHAT!" Arceus yelled in confusion. The lasers Arceus fired were seemingly swallowed up by the air itself, disappearing when they reached a certain height.

"Something... stopped it?" Dusk mumbled in disbelief.

Arceus had quickly realized what had happened and let out a low, menacing growl. "Palkia..."

A sound like an explosion shook the Spear Pillar as three beings popped into existance, appearing between Arceus and Dusk. To Dusk's right, the legendary pokemon with power over time, Dialga, appeared. To her left was Palkia, the legendary pokemon with power over spatial dimensions. Finally, directly in front of her...

"Giratina!" Dusk yelled in shock. The pokemon that stood before her was, indeed, Giratina, but in a different form than Dusk was used to. Now Giratina was less serpentine, having three pairs of legs that it now stood on instead of floating in the air like it usually was. This was a more durable, alternate form for Giratina, which it was required to be in while in the real world with no source of power to retain its normal form.

"-You've done well to hold off Arceus for this long, but we shall take over from here,-" Giratina said to her.

"You... I should have known you would show up eventually," Arceus growled. "My fallen creations again rise up to try to stop me, but this time you are too late! I already have the power of the plates! Even you cannot stand against me now!"

"-We shall see about that, Arceus,-" Palkia said, casting a death glare at its creator. "-Dialga and I have not forgotten the way you tricked us into conflict with the humans. To think you still had such influence on this world in spite of being trapped in the perfect prison.-"

"-WE SHALL NOT BE CONTROLLED AGAIN, ARCEUS. TODAY YOUR REIGN OF TERROR ENDS FOR GOOD!-" Dialga bellowed.

"Hmph. I have barely even begun to display my true power!" Arceus growled. "Today, all three of you shall fall before me!"

"-Not a chance,-" Giratina said, then turned to Dusk. "-Dusk, I will be requiring the use of the griseous orb now.-"

Dusk nodded. She reached into her cloak to retrieve the amber-colored crystal, then handed it off to Giratina. The crystal was absorbed into Giratina's body and it immediately changed form, losing its legs and some of its bulk to change to its more serpentine original form. In this form, Giratina lost the extra durability but now had more offensive power. That power was only amplified by the griseous orb. Palkia and Dialga also still had their respective orbs filling them with power.

"-Arceus! We will strike you down with all our power!-" Giratina declared. Dialga and Palkia roared in agreement. All three of them began drawing on their various powers, readying themselves to throw their strongest attacks at Arceus.

* * *

"So Giratina really was alive all this time..." Dawn mumbled in disbelief.

"Yes... but for how long?" the disembodied voices whispered around her. A piece of paper then appeared out of the darkness and floated down in front of Dawn. On it were images of the three legendary pokemon surrounding Arceus, confronting their old master much like they were now atop Spear Pillar. "A picture drawn by Dusk. Giratina long since envisioned a day where it would rally Dialga and Palkia to its side to fight against Arceus... After its defeat at your hands, it secretly made contact with them while it was licking its wounds..."

"So Dusk can draw... who knew?" Dawn mumbled. "But what does that have to do with whats going on now?"

"Do you not see what is missing from this image?" the voices whispered. "Giratina envisioned fighting an Arceus that lacked the power of the plates, but that is not the case... Against this Arceus, even the mightiest of legendary pokemon will fall... This, too, is a result of Dusk's curse..."

"But... that's three legendary pokemon!" Dawn shot back. "Three! And they've all got those things powering them up, right? And what's Arceus going to do, shoot more lasers at them?"

"Arceus created them... this alone limits their ability to fight..." the voice explained. "They will be destroyed..."

* * *

Palkia and Dialga made the first move. Palkia slashed the air, causing a spatial distortion that sent a blast of energy at Arceus. Dialga joined in, letting out a roar that echo'd across time and fired a massive, cone-shaped blast of energy at Arceus. Arceus let out a pained cry as the attacks struck it, the combined efforts of the two legendary pokemon already clearly having more effect than all of Dusk's attempts combined.

Meanwhile, Giratina suddenly disappeared during Palkia and Dialga's attacks. It then reappeared after they had attacked by emerging from Arceus's shadow, coming up from under and behind Arceus and slamming into it, knocking Arceus off its feet. Giratina then flew off into the air, distancing itself from Arceus while it was getting back on its feet.

"A valiant effort. I'd expect nothing less," Arceus said to them. "But that was it for you. That was your free punch. Now... it ends." As Arceus finished speaking, the Earth Plate, a brown plate representing the ground-type, began to glow. The ground under Dialga then suddenly ruptured and a massive blast of earth energy engulfed it. It was an Earth Power attack, and a very strong one. So powerful, in fact, that Dialga was barely able to express its pain before collapsing.

"-DIALGA!-" Palkia yelled in shock.

"Your turn now," Arceus said as the Draco Plate began to glow. Aura began to gather near Palkia and then a burst of blue energy then blasted it in the face from only a few feet away. The attack was Dragon Pulse, an attack that was typically fired from a pokemon's mouth as it was a combination of an aura attack and a breath attack from a dragon pokemon. The blast felled Palkia almost instantly, its head and face badly scorched as it collapsed to the ground.

"-So this is your true power...-" Giratina said quietly. Now it finally realized just what it and its allies were trying to go up against. The result seemed inevitable now. It would have taken ever legendary pokemon Giratina could find to match Arceus's power now.

"You old fool." Arceus raised its head to address Giratina. "You knew what you were up against. You even knew what I was after, realized my plans, and realized who was the key to them. You could have foiled my efforts at anytime, but you didn't. Do you know why that is, Giratina?"

"-Because I became so attached to this species that I could not fathom killing even one if I thought I could avoid it,-" Giratina replied. "-But you are a fool if you think I don't still have one trump card in my possession. I may have failed, but Dusk will take care of the rest from here.-"

"Believe what you will," Arceus replied. The Spooky Plate then began to glow. A giant ball of shadowstuff formed in front of Giratina and expanded until it was nearly the same size as it. Giratina made no effort to avoid the attack, resigning itself to its fate. The giant shadow ball was flung into it, engulfing Giratina entirely and then exploding with it inside. Giratina was knocked out almost instantly and dropped out of the air.

"GIRATINA!" Dusk shrieked. She watched in horror as Giratina's unconscious form plummeted toward the ground, making a loud thud with its impact.

"For pokemon I personally created, you are all rather annoying pests. Its time I got rid of you... permanently." Arceus then quickly gathered energy from all of its plates and fired. A burst of lasers shot straight up into the air and split off into three separate directions, then rained down onto the unconscious forms of the three legendary dragons. Each of them became engulfed in a massive explosion that left nothing but large craters in their wake. Giratina, Dialga, and Palkia were gone. Only their individual orbs survived the blasts and now lie in the craters.

"They're... they're gone..." Dusk fell to her knees. "Dialga... Palkia... Giratina... they were all destroyed..."

Arceus surveyed its handiwork, taking in the sight of the craters that remained where its creations once stood, then turned to Dusk with a twisted grin on its face. "To think Giratina is still placing all its faith on you. What do you even have left to fight with?"

Dusk let out a quiet, disturbed laugh. "Giratina wasn't talking about me..." she said. "I'm not Dusk... I'm only part of Dusk..."

Arceus narrowed its eyes at her. "That doesn't even begin to make sense, you foolish human."

"It's the same with you and Dawn, isn't it?" Dusk asked with a dark tone to her voice. "A pokemon and a human, connected by something that transcends either, something more than just a 'bond'." Dusk raised her head and forced a smirk. "As we speak, there's a pokemon in the torn world with Dawn. And that pokemon... is named Dusk. And Dusk will do what needs to be done."

* * *

"Dusk's... here?" Dawn's eyes widened as the realization set in. "You're Dusk, aren't you? The one I've been talking to all this time?"

"You are correct. We are the spiritomb known as Dusk..." the voices replied.

"Then... what are you going to do now?"

"We... will succeed where Giratina failed..." the dark voices replied. "We will do what is necessary and finally defeat Arceus..."

* * *

Author's Notes: Sorry for the lateness, came down with a sudden case of "dear god I just can't stop sneezing".

Dealing with Arceus is easily turning into the longest arc dealing with a legendary pokemon. It's now a three-parter, thanks to the background chapter, but it should finally be resolved next chapter. To be fair, though, this is the strongest pokemon to date and one that is actually very strongly tied into the history of the Pokemon world as written here. One could actually debate how much truth, if any, is behind its in-game importance though. Afterall, a myth is called a myth because it isn't true.

Dealing with Arceus is easily turning out to be the darkest plot I've done dealing with a legendary pokemon, too, what with the demonic Spiritomb, death of three legendary pokemon, a Soylent Green artifact. Probably more things I'm forgetting. And yet I'm having fun with this. I think I might actually be a little sadistic.

Alternate title for this chapter: Arceus Beats Up Everyone.


	64. Chapter 63: Deal With A Devil

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 63**

**Deal With A Devil**

"A long time ago, we encountered a young girl, the girl that would come to be known as Dusk..." the disembodied voices explained to Dawn. "This girl had a distinct interest in what you humans call the 'occult'... An unhealthy interest. As a spiritomb, we were incomplete, composed of only one-hundred-and-seven spirits as opposed to one-hundred-and-eight."

"So you used her to make yourself complete..." Dawn surmised.

"It was far too easy," the voices said, confirming Dawn's suspicions. "She almost killed herself at our request, merely because she was so surprised to be speaking with a ghost... though she survived due to a certain pokemon intervening, the ritual was successful in tying her own spirit to our own. Thus, she became cursed, like every other spirit that comprises this 'spiritomb'..."

"Cursed? You sound more like evil spirits to me," Dawn spat. "How heartless do you have to be to do that to a little girl!"

"Many of us do not have morals, Dawn..." the voices replied. "Murderers... war criminals... rapists... many of the worst of humans find their spirits bound to this world, forced to endure a never-ending existance. As a spiritomb, we are neither alive nor dead."

"Then who is Dusk really?" Dawn asked.

"You will see for yourself..." the voices said. Another drawing then floated down in front of Dawn, which she immediately grabbed. "It seems we will have time for you to examine that..."

"Why's that?" Dawn asked.

"More trainers are about to challenge Arceus, even though they cannot defeat it..." the voices of the spiritomb said to her.

Dawn looked at the drawing briefly, then looked back at the window to Spear Pillar. "Is there any way to stop Arceus? Or to at least go out and help them?"

"The answer to both questions... is yes," the spiritomb replied. "But only if you are willing... to agree to our terms..."

* * *

"I suggest you call off your pokemon, girl. If anything were to happen to Dawn I might be very upset."

"Considering you've already killed three legendary pokemon and intend to destroy the world regardless of what I do, I don't see what difference it'd make even if I could take to it," Dusk replied, smirking slightly.

"Hmph... then I suppose I will have to do it myself." Arceus then started to move toward the griseous orb that was lying in a crater next to Dusk. Dusk, noticing this, quickly moved in and grabbed the orb. Arceus stopped in its tracks and stared at her. "Really, Dusk? Or whatever your name is?"

"Would you even be able to attack me without destroying the orb?" Dusk asked him. "Of course, it hardly matters. I'm sure Dawn's already been taken care of..."

"Then I will see for myself," Arceus snapped. "My only dilemma is choosing just how I want to kill you, you insignificant little brat." Arceus began contemplating its options, trying to think up the best way to finish Dusk without risking harm to the griseous orb. It didn't have much time to think about it before a whole new set of distractions showed up.

Or rather, they blasted it.

"ARGHHH!" Arceus screamed as an incredible blast of energy engulfed it entirely, fired at an angle from above and behind Dusk. The beam carved out a massive trench where Spear Pillar used to be, destroying an already ruined temple. However, as one would expect, Arceus was still conscious when the energy finally died down.

"Who DARES to attack Arceus!" Arceus screamed.

"That'd be me!" With that, a metallic bird dropped down out of the air and landed next to Dusk. Riding that metallic bird was Melany. She was clutching her pokenav, which she had used to attack Arceus, tightly in one hand and had a huge smirk on her face. "So you're Arceus, huh? Certainly not much to look at!"

"First you attack me... Now you mock me!" Arceus's body began to twitch and all the plates, which now floated around Arceus in a circle, began to glow. "FILTHY HUMAN! I! WILL! DESTROY YOU!"

"Before you do that, I have just one thing to say," Melany said. Strangely, Arceus stopped and turned a harsh glare toward Melany. Melany was still wearing that smirk on her face. She slowly raised a hand and pointed into the air. "I'm distracting you so she can blast you!" Arceus looked up without thinking and was just in time to see a rather large, blue energy ball heading toward it.

"Oh for the-" Arceus was quickly cut off as the ball of energy hit it and pushed it back until Arceus was slammed into the crater that used to be Spear Pillar. The energy continued to push against Arceus, pressing it against the top of the mountain until finally it exploded. The mountain shook with the immense power of the explosion, cracking the ground under Melany and Dusk's feet and separating a large chunk of the northern tip of the mountain. The severed chunk of rock slid down the side of the mountain and shattered at the base of the mountain, creating a huge cloud of dust and debris.

"'I'm distracting you so she can blast you!'? Really, Melany?" May, riding on Flygon, said as she floated down next to Melany. Salamence, Altaria, Latias, Latios, and Rayquaza all flew down and landed behind the three trainers as well. "You really used a line like that?"

Melany shrugged. "I thought it was funny, and it distracted Arceus didn't it?"

"You shouldn't be so careless!" May shot back.

"I wouldn't have had to if you had better timing," Melany said. "The combined Draco Meteor was supposed to come directly after my Hyper Beam! What happened?" May narrowed her eyes and jabbed her thumb toward Latias. Melany let out a sigh as Latias glanced about nervously.

"Should have known..." Melany muttered.

"Excuse me if I'm interrupting something," Dusk said, getting the attention of the two trainers. "Not that I'm complaining, but do you mind explaining how you two even knew to come here!"

"Well, it wasn't hard to figure out where Dawn was likely to go when we heard how the whole thing with Heatran went down," Melany said to her. "The powerful rampaging legendary pokemon, however, was a bit of a surprise. We actually scouted here earlier but retreated to Hearthome to make preparations and call in reinforcements."

"Hmph..." Dusk looked around at the dragon pokemon gathered behind them. "Quite the assortment of dragons... but even with those, do you think you can really beat Arceus?"

"What's that supposed to mean!" May demanded. "We just blew that thing to..."

"**I'M STILL HERE!**" an enraged Arceus yelled as it rose up over the top of the mountain. It floated in the air over the mountain, glaring down at the group of trainers and pokemon gathered before it. "DO YOU THINK EVEN WITH THAT POWER YOU CAN DEFEAT ME! DID YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD FALL TO SUCH A CHILDISH PLOY!"

"Well, for a moment there, that certainly seemed to be the case, didn't it?" Melany said to Arceus, earning her a whack to the head from May. "Ow! Hey!"

"Stop pissing off legendary pokemon! Especially if they're powerful enough to withstand an attack like that!"

"Don't worry, I've got this. Porygon should be ready by now." Melany hopped down off Skarmory's back and then moved past Dusk. Dusk slapped her hand against her forehead but said nothing. "Just incase this doesn't work, get another Draco Meteor ready."

"Fine. I guess a second try couldn't hurt," May replied, then hopped down off her Flygon and turned to face the rest of the dragon pokemon. "Salamence, Flygon, Altaria, Rayquaza, Latias, Latios, ready another combined Draco Meteor!" All six dragon pokemon nodded and began focusing their power into a single blue orb above them, which quickly began to expand.

"Alright! Let's see how much more you can take, Arceus!" Melany called out. She held her pokenav in both hands and pointed it at Arceus. "Porygon, full power! Use Hyper Beam, NOW!" At Melany's command, a massive blast of energy fired out from her pokenav. Arceus prepared itself accordingly this time, drawing power from one of its plates to switch to steel-type. The change was complete just before the massive beam engulfed it.

Meanwhile, the ball of enegry being formed by the dragons continued to grow as each dragon poured their power into it. It wasn't reaching nearly the size of the first meteor they attacked Arceus with, though, as using the technique the first time had left them all weakened. They were ready to launch their attack by the time Melany's Porygon ran out of power.

The energy blast from Melany's pokenav quickly died down and the dragons launched their ball of draconic energy at Arceus. The energy ball was large enough to engulf Arceus, but didn't quite have enough power to push it back this time. When the ball of energy exploded, Arceus was still standing.

"Fools. Your efforts are in vain," Arceus said, then began gathering energy. "NOW FEEL MY FULL POWER!"

"Their efforts weren't as vain as you think!" another girl's voice called out. Arceus turned its head to the side just in time to see Ashley preparing to attack with three pokemon; a charizard, a venusaur, and a blastoise. "Charizard, Venusaur, Blastoise, now! Triple Finish!"

Charizard, Venusaur, and Blastoise each launched their attacks at Arceus. Venusaur had already gathered solar energy and had been storing it in his body just for that attack, launching a brilliant white laser at Arceus from the plant on his back. Charizard opened his mouth and belched an extended Flamethrower in Arceus's direction, pouring all his power into the attack to ensure it'd reach. Finally, Blastoise was firing a powerful Hydro Pump from the cannons on his back. Blastoise made sure to avoid crossing his attack with Charizard's so both attacks would reach Arceus.

"Argh!" Arceus growled as the attacks hit it. It endured the attacks fairly easily, barely moving from the spot it was floating in. "You merely delay the inevitable..."

"Well aware, and not done yet," Ashley said. Charizard, Venusaur, and Blastoise then each launched another attack. Charizard opened his mouth and gathered a ball of fire, building up a ball of flames that eventually explodes and covers half of Arceus's body in flames. Twin blasts of wide, high pressure streams of water cover the rear half of Arceus's body. Arceus roars in pain as the attacks hit it, but remains anchored firmly in place due to the thick roots wrapped around each of its legs and squeezing rather tightly.

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Arceus roared, sending a pulse of energy out from its body to dispel the various attacks. "I WILL NOT BE STALLED ANY LONGER BY THESE PITIFUL ATTACKS!"

"You're right, but only because I don't have to," Ashley replied, then pointed up. Arceus froze. It didn't even have to look. It could feel that something just wasn't right. When it finally looked up, it was horrified.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!" Arceus roared in a mix of frustration and confusion. "You dare bring this abomination before me! Your blasphemy knows no bounds, humans!"

The 'abomination' Arceus referred to was what appeared to be a second Arceus, hovering high in the air over it. This second Arceus didn't look any different from the real thing, aside from lacking the silver coloring from the plate the real Arceus was using. What disturbed Arceus the most, however, was that it could feel this second Arceus trying to draw energy from Arceus's plates.

"Looks like we got here just in time!" Rina said as she floated down next to Melany and May, riding on Knight's back.

"In a way, I kinda feel like the reinforcements outdid us though," May said dejectedly.

"Well, Mew was part of the strategy anyway," Melany reminded her. "Besides that, we had the flashiest attempt and easily did a lot of damage to Arceus in spite of its power."

May sighed. "I guess you're right."

Rina looked from one girl to the other and asked, "So... you two are getting along now?"

"Yes!" May and Melany replied simultaneously.

"When did you..."

"Are you seriously worrying about personal relationships at a time like this!" Dusk yelled at them. "Do you have ANY idea just how dire this situation is!"

"We're used to it," the three of them replied simultaneously.

Meanwhile the fake Arceus, Mew, was confronting the real Arceus.

"I won't let you destroy this world you... you... selfish jerk!" Mew yelled at it, its voice mimicking Arceus's though sounding more childish. "This is our world too and we like it just the way it is!"

"I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE BUT I SHALL NOT TOLERATE THIS MOCKERY!" Arceus roared in response. "I WILL DESTROY YOU!" The wheel on Arceus's back turned green again and a barrage of lasers were fired at Mew. Mew responded similarly, firing a barrage of lasers at Arceus in return. Laser met laser, stopping and disrupting each of them.

"Inconceivable! How is it you are able to match my strength!" Arceus demanded.

"When I use transform, I copy your form and ALL of your capabilities as well!" Mew explained. "Not only am I as powerful as you are, but I can use those plates of your's as well! And I have allies! So why don't you just give up already?"

"NEVER!" Arceus roared and fired another burst of lasers at Mew. This was met by another round of laserfire from Mew, perfectly cancelling both attacks when they met.

"I think it's safe to say we've got Arceus pretty much contained now," Melany mused. "Just a matter of figuring out what to do with it from here."

"Even if that's the case, it wouldn't hurt to help Mew out," Ashley said as she approached the group. Her pokemon remained where they were, resting a bit so they could attack again. Charizard and Blastoise immediately went on the attack when they were ready, Charizard firing a huge blast of flames and Blastoise firing powerful streams of water from his cannons at Arceus. Venusaur was busy gathering solar energy. Arceus growled in pain as the attacks hit.

"Right, right..." Melany mumbled, raising her pokenav and pointing it at Arceus. "No point holding back. We need to keep this thing pinned until we can cut it off from those plates."

"Speak for yourself. Even a combined Draco Meteor from our dragons won't do much now," May said to them. "Rayquaza, Salamence, and Flygon could still use physical attacks but I don't think they should risk getting in close like that. I think we need a solution, and fast."

Dusk turned away and shook her head. _I don't even know what's going on anymore_, she thought. It was then that she noticed the blue music instrument on the ground and reached down to pick it up. _This thing's still around?_

* * *

"You said they can't beat Arceus, but they seem to be doing pretty good out there," Dawn said.

"They have it distracted, but that is the best they can do..." the spiritomb explained. "As long as Arceus has control of the plates, it cannot be defeated. Arceus will continue to destroy everything in its path until it finds you..."

"And the only way to separate us... is to use the Azure Flute..."

"That is correct... now, do you agree to our terms, Dawn?"'

Dawn thought about it for a moment and then let out a sigh. "Yeah... I guess I don't have much choice... but how are we supposed to get out of here?"

"Isn't that obvious?" the spiritomb asked. "We have a window here..."

"A window?" Dawn blinked and looked at the distortion that served as a 'window' to view the action on Spear Pillar. At first she was confused, but after a moment it finally clicked. "Wait! Would that even work!"

"You may be surprised..."

Dawn let out a sigh and drew a pokeball. "Well here goes nothing then..."

* * *

Back on the remains of Spear Pillar, the constant attacks from everyone's pokemon were managing to keep Arceus at bay. However, throwing powerful attack after powerful attack was quickly wearing them down. After firing another Hyper Beam at Arceus, Melany lowered her pokenav and took a moment to consider her next move.

"We've got Arceus cornered, but we've thrown attack after attack and its still standing!" Melany clenched her teeth. "It's obviously getting power from those plates, but nothing we do is even remotely damaging its connection to them!"

"Mew! Try taking the plates from Arceus now!" Rina called out. Mew, still in the form of Arceus, nodded and charged toward the weakened Arceus with an Extremespeed. Arceus grunted as Mew slammed into it, but the plates were still moving with Arceus. Mew continued to push against it while drawing power from the plates, trying to override Arceus's connection to them.

"That... won't... WORK!" Arceus roared. A blast of energy shot out from its body, throwing Mew back and causing quite a bit of damage to it. Mew managed to stop itself in the air, though, and then used Recover to heal itself.

"No good..." Mew said dejectedly. "Its bonded too strongly to them..."

"I have to admit, you've been doing better than I have, or the three legendary dragons, but even you can't stop Arceus," Dusk said quietly. "We'd need a miracle now to..."

Dusk was interrupted by what sounded like glass shattering. Thick, brown roots shot out of thin air behind Dusk, one root coming within less than an inch of her head. This got her attention and she turned around in shock to see a vortex seemingly torn open by the roots. From that vortex, Dawn emerged while Bowser remained behind to hold the vortex open with its roots.

"DAWN!" Dusk yelled. "What are you... why are you..." The other girls finally noticed as well and looked at Dawn in confusion. Dawn looked around, saying nothing, then noticed the flute Dusk was holding.

"I'll be needing that!" Dawn said, then snatched the flute from her.

"Hahaha! So it seems Dusk was bluffing!" Arceus fired a barrage of lasers, scattering them to strike each of the girl's pokemon. The lasers were fairly weak due to the spread, but distracted them so Arceus could move toward Dawn. "YOU WILL REGRET REVEALING YOURSELF, DAWN!" it yelled.

"We'll see about that!" Dawn shot back, then put the flute to her lips and played a quick tune. Shadows emerged from the vortex and surrounded Arceus as Dawn played and the legendary pokemon suddenly let out a terrible, pained cry.

"ARRRRRRRRRRGH! WHAT IS THIS!" Arceus yelled as darkness descended upon it. It felt as if something was tearing at its very soul. A curse was coming over it. "This... this is IMPOSSIBLE! I WON'T ALLOW THIS!" A pulse of energy shot out from Arceus's body, scattering the darkness and allowing it to continue its approach.

"Just wait a minute!" Dawn said, then played another quick tune. Arceus stopped in its tracks and threw back its head, crying out in pain. "Want some more! I've still got the Bolero of Fire up my sleeve and I bet I could play the Tetris theme on this thing too!"

"What's... happening... to me..." Arceus groaned. Not only was it in incredible pain, but it felt as if its strength was being drained from it.

"That would be a spiritomb's curse you're feeling!" Dawn informed Arceus. "Since you went through all that trouble binding our spirits together, a ghost pokemon like spiritomb can use me to send curses through to you! As we speak, the spiritomb known as Dusk has cast a curse on me and now I'm using this flute to pass that curse on to you!"

"That... what! How is this possible!" Arceus tried to gather its strength and move toward Dawn, but the curse was just too much for it to handle. Arceus was getting weaker by the second.

"Mew! Now's your chance!" Rina called out to her pokemon.

Mew nodded. "Right!" it said. The golden wheel on Mew's back glowed brightly and then fired a swarm of lasers upon the weakened Arceus. Arceus groaned in pain as the lasers struck it and slammed it into the ground only a few feet away from where the girls were standing. The plates that Arceus had been drawing power from were scattered across the ground from the impact before suddenly flying into the air and surrounding Mew. Now the fake Arceus had the plates in its possession.

"And now, Arceus..." Dawn began to say as she drew an ultra ball from her travel bag and primed it. "You're finished!" Dawn threw the ultra ball at Arceus, who could only watch helplessly as it soared through the air. The ultra ball hit Arceus in the face, opened, and pulled it inside. Arceus had almost no strength left by then and so, after a bit of shaking, the ultra ball locked shut and was sent off to storage.

"Well that worked out surprisingly well..." Melany mused, then turned to Dawn. "Where have you been all this time anyway?"

"Long story," Dawn replied, then gestured toward the vortex Bowser was still holding open. "But I've been watching this from another world alongside Dusk, the real Dusk.

"Dusk should have killed you," the human girl formerly known as Dusk said to Dawn. "How did you get it to..." Dusk stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening as a realization dawned on her.

"Yeah, I think you know..." Dawn replied, taking a few steps away from the group. "You should look on the bright side, 'Dusk', you won't be a part of it anymore at least."

"Wait, what's going on here?" Ashley asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The spiritomb known as 'Dusk' was incomplete..." Dusk explained. "A spirit short of a hundred and eight. Because of a ritual, my spirit made up the last one it required. But because I ended up surviving that ritual, thanks to Giratina, the spiritomb was still technically incomplete." Dusk narrowed her eyes at Dawn. "Dawn... after managing to survive this, did you really agree to sacrifice yourself for that spiritomb?"

"That's right..." Dawn replied quietly.

"Neither of you... will be required..." a chorus of darkened voices sounded from the vortex and a swirling mass of green and purple emerged from it, attached to a stone block. "Another soul will take Dawn's place..."

"Huh?" Dawn turned to the spiritomb and looked at it in confusion. "But who will..." Before Dawn could finish, a part of the spiritomb extended toward the flute in Dawn's hand and an aura of darkness surrounded it.

"It seems one of the spirits in this flute is... rather attached to you..." spiritomb said to her. "It has agreed to complete us. A soul that has already passed away, and is now connected to us..."

"Wait... you don't mean!"

"Knowing Dusk, that was its plan all along," Dusk grumbled. The azure flute blackened in the spiritombs grasp, dragging one of the seven souls out of it and joining that soul with itself. Dawn dropped the flute in shock and it shattered when it struck the ground.

"Now all the souls that made up that flute are free," the spiritomb informed them. The ghostly pokemon then turned and retreated back into the vortex.

"Well, I guess that just about wraps up everything here," May said.

"Not quite, there's still one problem here," Melany corrected her, then turned to Dusk. "I think it's about time we found out just who you are."

* * *

Author's Notes: Phew! Finally done with the Arceus plot thread. Do note, though, that for now at least Dawn won't be making use of Arceus for rather obvious reasons. No, it gets to stay inside its ultra ball and think about what it tried to do.

Originally this chapter was going to have Dusk leave and then Dawn go off after another legendary pokemon, but I'm including more content in the next chapter since I don't think Dawn's capture of that pokemon will be enough to devote an entire chapter to on its own. So next chapter will be Dawn capturing a useable legendary pokemon as well as dealing with the aftermath of the battle with Arceus.

At some point, I think I might write a "what if" sidestory chapter or something to show what would have happened if Arceus's plan succeeded. Needless to say, it'd be a rather dark little story since it'd be the bad end version.


	65. Chapter 64: No Time To Rest

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 64**

**No Time To Rest**

"Morrigan, right?"

Everyone turned to face Dawn and Dusk had a look of shock upon her face.

"What did you say?" Dusk asked her.

"I remember now. Your real name. It's Morrigan," Dawn said. "You used to live in Twinleaf..."

"That part should have been obvious, but what makes you think you knew me?" Dusk asked her.

"From this," Dawn took out a piece of folded paper and handed it to Dusk. Dusk unfolded the paper and her face immediately turned red when she saw what was on the page. It was a picture, obviously drawn by a child using crayons. In the picture, there were two stick figures standing side by side, one with blue hair and one with purple, and another far off to the side with blonde hair. As if it weren't already obvious who was who, the stick figures were labelled with the names over their heads. The blue-haired girl was Dawn, the purple-haired girl was labelled "me", and the blonde haired boy labelled "stupid Barry".

"I... I have no idea what this is!" Dusk said defiantly. She folded up the paper and handed it back to Dawn. "Don't try to imply that we used to be friends or something!"

"We weren't," Dawn said to her. "But you wanted to be friends, didn't you? That's why you drew that picture."

"Don't make such an assumption!" Dusk snapped, then quickly turned her back to Dawn.

"Someone mind explaining what's going on here?" Melany asked while looking from one girl to the other.

"Dawn, why don't you explain what you've managed to figure out so far?" Ashley suggested. Dawn nodded in agreement.

"I'll explain what I know," she said. "From what I can tell, Dusk lived in Twinleaf when she was a young girl. She had an interest in the occult that lead her to performing some ritual for a spiritomb and..."

Dusk suddenly turned around again. "You're leaving out all the details!" she yelled, then let out an exasperated sigh. "I'll explain it."

"Didn't think I was leaving out anything important..." Dawn muttered under her breath.

"Anyway..." Dusk took a deep breath and turned to address the other girls. "What Dawn said is pretty much true. Like her, I grew up in Twinleaf and lived there until I was six. I spent most of the time indoors playing video games but then, one day, I decided to visit the psyduck pond. It was there that I found an old keystone containing 107 spirits."

"So that's where you found the incomplete spiritomb..." Melany said thoughtfully.

"What is a spiritomb anyway?" May asked.

"It's a ghost and dark-type pokemon made up of one-hundred-eight cursed spirits," Melany explained. "I haven't encountered one myself before now, but Professor Rowan had some info on them."

"Info that apparently came from one of Dawn's encounters with Dusk," Rina added.

"That would probably be from the time I used Dusk to disguise myself as a hiker," Dusk explained. She briefly looked back at Dawn to flash her a grin. "From the time I tricked Dawn into going into Wayward Cave and tricked her with a pit trap. Twice."

Dawn glared. "I WILL get you back for that one of these days, somehow."

"By the way, 'Dusk', what should we be calling you since your name obviously isn't Dusk?" Ashley asked her.

Dusk sighed. "Morrigan. My name's Morrigan."

Ashley nodded and smirked slightly. "Thought so."

"ANYWAY!" Morrigan clapped her hands together. "Back to my story... I took the keystone home and went to the basement with it, where I talked with the spiritomb within it. The spiritomb asked me to go through a blood ritual that, as it said, would grant me its power. Back then I was really into ghosts and demons and stuff so I agreed."

"WHAT!" the girls all shrieked, save for Dawn.

"Yeah. I was pretty stupid back then," Morrigan said. "Needless to say, I nearly died of bloodloss. But that's how I met Giratina. It had been watching someone else in Twinleaf," Morrigan glanced back at Dawn for a moment. "When it noticed what I had done, it dragged me into the torn world and imbued me with some of its power to save me. That's how I became able to use the griseous orb."

"And from that point on, you were pretty much drafted into being Giratina's assistant, right?" Dawn said.

Morrigan nodded. "From there, I used the griseous orb to capture and tame ghost pokemon from around Sinnoh. Though, it took a while for me to get over that whole near-death thing. And being taken away from my family."

"And what about the NES?" Dawn asked. Morrigan rather noticeably flinched at the mention of that.

"NES?" Melany raised an eyebrow. "What does a gaming system have anything to do with this?"

"I gave her an NES," Morrigan explained bitterly. "It was the only time I ever talked to her. I used to play Shin Megami Tensei on it, but I obviously didn't need it anymore. So I gave it to Dawn, hoping she would become addicted to it and never become a pokemon trainer."

"And she would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for Barry," Dawn said, chuckling. Morrigan rolled her eyes.

Melany sighed and rubbed her hand against her forehead. "Well, now we know how Dusk... I mean Morrigan, got caught up with Giratina at least..."

"I could have done without knowing some of it," Rina said, shuddering at the thought of the ritual Morrigan tried to perform.

"But I don't get it. If you were trying to stop Arceus from being unsealed, that means you were technically the good guys all this time," May pointed out. "Why didn't you try to explain what was going on or ask for help?"

"May, just take a look at her," Ashley said. May looked at her in confusion, then at Morrigan.

"Well, she does look kinda secretive..."

"Exactly!" Ashley said. "Coming from her, it'd be a hard story to believe. She looks like she could easily be a cultist of some sort. And, as Rina kinda noted, Morrigan's side of the story doesn't exactly do her any favors either. In a lot of ways, she really does come across as being kinda villainous..."

Morrigan nodded in agreement. "Dawn's mentalstate by that point didn't exactly help either. She became utterly convinced that she was the hero and I was the villain from the first time we met. So Giratina and I were pretty convinced that we were in this alone."

"But now Giratina is gone, isn't it?" Melany asked, wrinkling her nose. She looked around the remains of Spear Pillar, noticing the craters where the adamantium orb and lustrous orb now lay. "I didn't think legendary pokemon could even be killed..."

"Yeah, well," Morrigan glanced down at the orb she was carrying. "I plan to do something about that."

"Seeing as how there's still a bounty on you, whatever you're planning is going to have to wait," Ashley said, moving past the other girls to confront Morrigan. "I think the Sinnoh league is going to want to... HEY! WAIT!" Ashley reached out to grab Morrigan as a black vortex suddenly opened beneath her feet, but was too slow. Morrigan fell into the vortex and vanished. Ashley stumbled toward the vortex from her failed attempt to grab Morrigan, but the vortex closed before she could fall in.

"Geez... you'd think after all that she'd have the decency to stick around and sort all this out..." Ashley grumbled as she stood up and dusted herself off. She barely had time to get out of the way before another vortex opened in the air next to her and Bowser suddenly dropped out. Ashley yelled in surprise and quickly moved aside, just barely avoiding getting hit by the large tortoise pokemon.

"-Well that was kinda rude.-" Bowser grumbled wearily. He had been tossed out of the torn world without any warning from Morrigan. On top of that, he was exhausted. Keeping the broken 'window' open was quite taxing. Especially with the method he was using.

"Oh, sorry about that, Bowser," Dawn said to her pokemon as she took a pokeball from her belt. "You can rest now. You deserve that much, at least," she said. Bowser nodded in agreement. A red beam fired out from the pokeball Dawn was holding, de-materializing him and pulling him inside.

"I think we have all the answers the league would need anyway," Melany pointed out to Ashley after Dawn finished recalling Bowser. "We know what the real threat was, and we know Morrigan's motivation."

"On top of that, we should focus on cleaning up here," Rina said. She then pointed toward the end of the mountain that now had a fair sized chunk of land taken out of it. "That probably sent a lot of debris down the mountain for one thing. We need to make sure no one was caught up in that..."

"Thanks to these two being so overzealous in their attacks," Ashley said, pointing at Melany and May. The two quietly exchaged nervous looks.

"Eh heh... collateral damage isn't something we usually have to worry about..." Melany said sheepishly.

"Well the only reason I even went for an attack like that was because you told me to!" May said to Melany. "Why is it you're always so quick to go for the big attacks against legendary pokemon anyway!"

"Because they're legendary pokemon. You NEED to throw everything at them to win," Melany said flatly. May opened her mouth to reply, but Rina cut her off.

"That's enough!" Rina said, moving in between the two girls. "Arguing about whose fault it is isn't solving anything!"

Melany sighed. "Right, right... I guess we should just go check and May should go get Ho-oh, just incase."

"Ho-oh?" Dawn asked.

"It's a legendary pokemon that can revive the dead," May explained.

"Wow. So even death isn't much of an obstacle to you..."

"Speaking of legendary pokemon, I take it you don't know where to find one now, right?" Melany asked Dawn. Dawn shook her head. "Well, you're in luck apparently. Professor Rowan and Lucas found out about a legendary pokemon currently wandering the region. It was spotted on Route 209 heading east."

"That's pretty convenient..." Dawn noted. "So just head east from Hearthome then?"

"Right. And the pokemon you're looking for is a pink, blue, and yellow pokemon that looks like it'd be an aquatic pokemon," Melany said, then turned to May and nodded. "Okay, let's go make sure we didn't kill anybody now."

"Right," May replied, nodding in agreement. The two of them then mounted their respective pokemon - Melany riding Skarmory and May calling Flygon forward and hopping on his back - and began recalling their pokemon. By the time they had finished, Dawn had thought of something to ask them.

"Just one question!" Dawn said. May and Melany turned to look at her. "Where were you two yesterday? You missed both of my battles with the gym leaders!"

"Date," they replied simultaneously. Then, before anyone could ask anymore questions, the two girls motioned for their pokemon to take off and flew toward the opposite end of the mountaintop. Dawn was left speechless, Rina was trying not to giggle, and Ashley rolled her eyes.

"It only took them, what? Three years?" Ashley let out a sigh and shrugged. "Well, I guess their situation was rather... unique. But here I thought they'd hit it off after their first date in Fortree..."

"But... I... what?" Dawn stuttered in confusion.

"But now you can't tease me anymore!" Rina said smugly. Her smug grin faded when Ashley waved a finger at her and shook her head.

"You're not escaping that so easily!" Ashley said to her, smiling mischeviously. "It just means I need to be more creative now. For example, now I can say things like 'Well THEY got together, but what about you and Red?'"

Rina sighed. "I'm glad Pippi is in her pokeball for once, or else I'd be hearing it from her, too, now..."

"You people are weird... aren't either of you the least bit bothered by this?" Dawn asked them.

"Hmm?" Ashley raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong about two girls dating?"

"I... I don't know, it just seems so weird..." Dawn said, then looked from one girl to the other. "And you two are acting like there's nothing odd about it at all."

"It's just the way some people are," Rina said with a shrug. "Besides that, they're our friends. Of course we're going to be happy for them."

"On top of that..." Ashley grinned and leaned in closer to Dawn. "You seemed like you were starting to get pretty close to Morrigan just now."

"I barely know her!" Dawn shot back, then thrust a piece of paper into Ashley's hand. "That's the only reason I was being nice to her!" Ashley blinked in disbelief and stood back. She unfolded the paper and took a quick look at it. It was the picture she had shown Morrigan before, but no one else had gotten a chance to look at it.

"Anyway, if you'll excuse me now, I have a legendary pokemon to capture!" Dawn then quickly took a pokeball from her belt and released Captain Falcon. She quickly hopped on Captain Falcon's back and motioned for her to take off, patting her on the back and pointing eastward.

"Interesting..." Ashley mumbled to herself with a smirk as she looked over the drawing.

"What's that?" Rina asked her, moving closer to see for herself.

"A picture drawn by Morrigan when she was younger." Ashley held up the picture so Rina could better see it.

"Oh... but what's so important about it?" Rina asked her.

"Like Dawn was saying before, Morrigan wanted to be friends with her when they were younger. I'm guessing she didn't like Barry though."

"He is kinda... well..." Rina paused for a moment. "Weird..."

"The point is, this tells us what Morrigan's motivation was for getting involved with Giratina," Ashley said. "When you think about it, even under the circumstances a six-year-old girl is going to be pretty hesitant to leave her parents. Especially after almost killing herself."

"So what you're saying is...?"

"Morrigan agreed to work with Giratina only because she wanted the chance to protect Dawn."

* * *

Even though her target was moving, Dawn was still able to catch up to it pretty quickly and was almost on top of it by the time the mystery legendary pokemon had reached the Lost Tower. When she had finally seen the pokemon, Dawn couldn't help thinking Melany could have better described it as a crescent. Crescent-shaped body, head, wings, tail. In some ways it was like someone just took a bunch of crescents and stuck them together.

"What do you want to bet this pokemon is related to the moon somehow?" Dawn idly asked her flying mount.

"-I'd like to bet 'my freedom' on 'related to the moon somehow', please,-" Captain Falcon replied sarcastically, knowing full well Dawn couldn't understand her. The pokemon flying ahead of them, however, could and they were now close enough that it could hear them too. The pokemon turned its head back to look at them, then spun around entirely to face them while flying backwards.

"Whoa! This pokemon knows some pretty neat tricks!" Dawn exclaimed in disbelief. It was nothing that would help her in a pokemon battle if she managed to catch it, but it would definitely make this chase interesting.

The pokemon Dawn was chasing quickly demonstrated just how interesting it would make that chase. A multicolor beam fired out from a point where the pokemon's "wings" met. Captain Falcon quickly swerved to avoid it, but Dawn could still feel the cold emanating from that beam as it passed by just a little too close to the left of her torso for comfort.

"Doesn't seem to care about my safety too much either..." Dawn noted bitterly. "Captain Falcon, I'm going to jump off here. I want you to fly past it, circle around that tower ahead of us, and then hit it with a Brave Bird attack!"

"-If it gets you off my back, then by all means!-"

Dawn quickly jumped off Captain Falcon's back, letting her fly off ahead on her own. Dawn hit the ground hard, grunting with the initial impact to her shoulder. She was sure that was going to at least leave a bruise, though she managed to roll with the fall to avoid hurting herself further.

The act confused the legendary pokemon, Cresselia, as she tried to follow Captain Falcon's movements. Captain Falcon flew past the Lost Tower, which Cresselia had been flying toward. As Captain Falcon was circling around behind it a blue, fiery aura surrounded her. When she came around from the other side she managed to catch Cresselia completely off guard, slamming into her from the side and delivering a crushing blow that sent Cresselia skidding across the ground. Captain Falcon landed nearby, stumbling a bit as it felt the recoil from its attack.

"Alright! That worked out pretty well!" Dawn said, a wide smile on her face as she examined her handiwork. As she continued to stare, that smile quickly turned into a frown as she sensed Cresselia's aura. She could sense the pokemon's fear and... desparation?

"Well it's easy to understand why she's afraid. We kinda came out of nowhere and attacked her..." Dawn mumbled to herself. "Chased her, actually. She attacked us."

Finally recovering from Captain Falcon's attack, Cresselia picked herself up off the ground and looked at her attackers in confusion, wondering why they hadn't continued the assault. Dawn could sense her confusion and realized this might be a good opportunity to try talking to Cresselia.

"Excuse me! Sorry if we startled you!" Dawn said while waving to the pokemon. "You see, I'm looking for a legendary pokemon to catch for a big match against a gym leader who's also supposed to be looking for a legendary pokemon. He's a bit of a douche, though. He hasn't been getting any decent challengers I guess and it's been bothering him."

Dawn felt Cresselia beginning to relax a bit as Dawn spoke to her, though she could now sense her own pokemon was getting impatient. _Sorry, Captain Falcon, but I need to talk to this one,_ Dawn thought. Focusing on Cresselia again, she could still sense that desparation from her and that fear was now merely a sense of nervousness instead.

"You must be concerned about something... what is it?" Dawn asked her. Cresselia hesitated for a moment, debating whether or not she could trust Dawn. In the end, she decided Dawn seemed trustworthy and fired a psychic emanation at her. Dawn flinched when she felt it hit her and images filled her mind. In her head she saw a black, menacing pokemon with white hair. Dawn couldn't help but feel as though she encountered this pokemon before, yet couldn't remember ever seeing it.

"Is this another legendary pokemon?" Dawn asked her. Cresselia nodded affirmatively. "You must be rivals with it then." Again, Cresselia nodded. Everything was starting to come together in Dawn's head now.

Volkner will be using a legendary pokemon, and there couldn't be too many of those left in Sinnoh now, Dawn thought to herself. Arceus, the lake pokemon, and all the golems had been captured and the trio of dragons created by Arceus had been destroyed by it as well. _If Volkner does manage to catch a legendary pokemon, it'll almost definitely be that one. I'm sure of it now._

Dawn took a deep breath. "Okay, miss legendary pokemon? This is probably going to be hard to believe, but I think the gym leader I'm set to fight might have that pokemon..."

* * *

Author's Notes: I apologize for the delay, I was getting an error message everytime I went to the edit page for the story and couldn't add the new chapter. Special thanks to Koolaid656 for telling me how to get past that.

Fairly dialogue-heavy chapter, kinda makes me wonder if a flashback would have served better in retrospect. Next chapter will jump straight into a battle between Volkner and Dawn, six pokemon each, and both will be using legendary pokemon. After that, the Elite Four, and this saga will finally end off with a series of battles at the Battle Tower.


	66. Chapter 65: A Shocking Finale

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 65**

**A Shocking Finale**

A lot had happened in the past day. A powerful legendary pokemon tried to take over the world, three legendary pokemon were killed, and Dawn found out what had happened to her father. All of this because she was trying to find a legendary pokemon to capture for her battle with Volkner.

In spite of all of that, Dawn was now ready for her battle. She had arrived back at the Resort Area in time to spend the night at the hotel there - her villa still lacked furniture. Now, the next day, she was standing outside the Battleground and staring at the door before her. She knew Volkner was inside and waiting for her. The arrangements had been made.

"This is it..." Dawn said, mentally psyching herself up. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and stepped inside. Volkner and Cynthia were both by the door waiting for her.

"Well look who finally decided to show up," Volkner said to Dawn. His tone sounded smug, though his expression just looked bored. He pushed off from the wall he was leaning against and turned to face her. "I wonder what took so long? I managed to obtain my legendary pokemon on the first night."

"I ran into a few problems," Dawn said tersely. "Can we get on with this?"

"By all means," Volkner replied. He then made his way toward the Battleground.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Cynthia asked Dawn. "To be quite honest I didn't expect either of you to catch a legendary pokemon so quickly." Cynthia sighed heavily. "Though I guess that's two legendary pokemon in your case. The other girls told me what happened."

"Umm... yeah..." Dawn rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "That came out of nowhere... and things REALLY got weird back there. And desparate..."

Cynthia forced a smile. "Well, don't worry about it for now. You couldn't help it. Though, needless to say there will be a lot of paperwork to deal with later."

"Right. Sorry about that..." Dawn replied, forcing a smile in return. It occurred to her that she would need to fill in some of the details for that paperwork, though that would be an issue for later. Dawn then moved past Cynthia, heading toward the battlefield. As she did, she passed by all of the other gym leaders, her mother, Lucas, Barry, and Professor Rowan. Everyone was there to watch Dawn's final gym battle.

_I bet Morrigan is watching from that other world, too,_ she thought to herself, rolling her eyes. She still found knowing Morrigan could watch her so easily to be annoying, even though she knew Morrigan wasn't a bad person.

"Now then, do try to make this at least a little entertaining," Volkner said as he took a pokeball in his hand. "Though I have to say it's rather ironic that it will be me moving on to face the Elite Four."

"You just keep saying that," Dawn replied, also readying a pokeball. "Just because no one's been able to beat you lately, doesn't mean no one can! And we'll prove it to you!" Dawn pressed the button on her pokeball. "Bowser, let's show 'em! Go!" she called out, releasing Bowser from his pokeball. The tortoise pokemon appeared slightly off the ground and landed with a thud.

"-Ready!-" Bowser growled determinedly.

"A ground-type. How predictable," Volkner said, then held out his own pokeball. "Electivire, this one will be no match for you! Go!" The pokeball in Volkner's hand split opened and a red beam fired out, materializing into a six-foot, black and yellow pokemon. The pokemon grinned and slammed his fists together, producing a blast of sparks.

"Bowser, start off with Earthquake!"

"Electivire, jump onto her torterra and smash it good with Fire Punch!"

Bowser reared up on his hind legs while Electivire charged across the field. When Bowser's front legs hit the ground, Electivire jumped. A shockwave shot out across the ground, causing the battlefield to shake and crack. Electivire managed to clear it entirely and landed on Bowser's back. Grinning, Electivire raised one hand, coating it in flames, then turned and slammed his fiery fist into the top of Bowser's head. Bowser groaned and his legs gave out from under him.

"You're about to regret that one! Bowser, throw it off with Leaf Storm!" Bowser shook his head and glared up at the pokemon standing on his back. A torrent of air originating from the tree on Bowser's back then suddenly engulfed Electivire, bringing with it a barrage of leaves from that same tree. The force of the leaves hitting it easily threw Electivire off and Bowser quickly stood up.

"That won't slow us down. Electivire, smash it in the face with a Fire Punch now!"

"Bowser, time to break out our special moves! Shell and Seed!"

Electivire charged toward Bowser again while one of his fists became engulfed in flames. Bowser responded by ducking under his shell. Still aiming for Bowser's face, Electivire's fist met Bowser's shell instead. Bowser, still hiding under his shell, then opened his mouth and fired a blast of explosive seeds directly into Electivire's chest. Electivire groaned in pain and staggered back, clutching his chest.

"Good job, Bowser! Now finish it off with Earthquake!" Dawn called out. Bowser quickly reared up on his hind legs and slammed his feet into the ground, sending out a shockwave in all directions. The shockwave threw Electivire back across the field, knocking it out instantly when it hit the ground.

"So you have a few tricks up your sleeve. Big deal," Volkner said dismissively. He recalled his Electivire and quickly swappwed Electivire's pokeball for another one from his belt. "But it takes more than tricks to win a match. This battle is still mine." Volkner then called out his next pokemon, releasing a blue, fish-like pokemon with antennae on its head and a yellow face.

"Lanturn, finish her torterra off with an Ice Beam," Volkner calmly commanded his pokemon. Lanturn complied and clapped its fins together as a blue, electricity-like beam fired from his antennae. Bowser growled in pain as the beam struck his shell, but was quickly silenced as the ice quickly coated his body. The ice crawled across Bowser's body from front to back, leaving him completely encased. However...

_I can feel it. Bowser is still conscious in there,_ Dawn thought, sensing Bowser's aura. Bowser had just barely managed to endure the attack, but was now completely frozen in a block of ice. Dawn sighed and held out Bowser's pokeball. He's not beaten yet, but he can't do anything like that.

"Bowser, return!" Dawn called out as she recalled her pokemon. Dawn then quickly took another pokeball in her hand. "Bridget, you're on now!" The pokeball Dawn grabbed opened and fired a red beam toward the battlefield, materializing into a pink lopunny.

Bridget started hopping from side to side while punching at the air. "-Come on, come on! I'm ready to kick some butt now!-"

"Lanturn, paralyze her pokemon with Thunder Wave!" Volkner called out without missing a beat. Lanturn nodded and fired a pulse of static electricity from his antennae.

"Bridget, counter with Magic Coat!" Bridget crossed his arms and a pink barrier formed around his body just in time to block Lanturn's attack. The static pulse struck Bridget's barrier and was reflected back at Lanturn. For a moment Dawn thought she'd be able to paralyze Lanturn in return but, to her dismay, it simply absorbed the deflected electricity.

"Interesting..." Volkner mumbled to himself, then waved his hand dismissively. "We'll just have to beat you down with pure power, then! Lanturn, Discharge!" Sparks of electricity began to arc around Lanturn's antennae almost immediately. Shortly after, an electric discharge shot out across the battlefield in Bridget's direction.

"Bridget, counter this one too! Mirror Coat!" Bridget crossed his arms again and his body shimmered, taking on a reflective sheen. Bridget grimaced and growled as the electricity hit him, enduring the hit. His shimmering body then flashed, sending a powerful blast of energy at Lanturn in return. The blast tore up the ground around it and threw Lanturn onto its back. Lanturn's body was left scorched by the energy that had enveloped. It wasn't unconscious, but it was struggling to right itself.

Dawn smirked. "Good! Now, let's finish this with Return!"

"-Alright! Time for my ultimate technique!-" Bridget declared before making a powerful leap into the air. In one jump he managed to cross the battlefield and landed in front of Lanturn just as the water pokemon managed to right itself. The first thing Lanturn saw was Bridget's curled ear connecting with its face. This was followed by another. And then another. A flurry of ear-punches were launched at Lanturn, beating the poor pokemon senseless until one hard, final punch knocked it onto its back again.

How did that battle turn so one-sided! Volkner wondered in shock. He held out Lanturn's pokeball, getting ready to recall it, but then noticed his pokemon's eyes were still open. Lanturn was giving Volkner a determined look, letting him know it wasn't ready to give up.

"Still hanging in there, huh?" Volkner said, a smirk forming. He then looked across the field at Dawn and pointed a finger at her. "This isn't over just yet! Lanturn, get up and make one last attack! Surf!"

Lanturn focused and quickly summoned a small mound of water, which flipped him rightside-up again. From this position, Lanturn immediately summoned more water and rose up on a wave that quickly formed under him. Lanturn rode this wave as it plowed into Bridget, dragging the rabbit pokemon across the battlefield in the direction of the pond.

"Wasn't expecting a comeback like that..." Dawn said under her breath. She immediately began contemplating a way out of it, then noticed the height of the wave. Bridget's ears were longer.

"Time for the chaser, Lanturn! Discharge!" Volkner called out. Lanturn discharged a blast of electricity directly into the water it was riding. Bridget couldn't even scream as he was in the water himself now, seemingly helpless. Normally using an electric attack in the water would be a bad idea, but Lanturn's Volt Absorb ability rendered it immune to the electricity. In fact, it was slowly regaining strength.

"You thought you had my Lanturn finished and dropped your guard, but that left you open to an unstoppable combination of electricity and water!" Volkner said triumphantly. "Your pokemon is completely helpless, while my Lanturn is pulling itself back in the game."

"Not as helpless as you think!" Dawn shot back. "Bridget, attack with Return!" Bridget heard Dawn's command and grimaced, gathering his strength. Staring up at Lanturn through the water, Bridget lashed out with one ear, punching Lanturn from below. The first punch surprised Lanturn a bit, causing a brief disruption in the electricity. This gave Bridget just the opening he needed to start delivering a flurry of punches to Lanturn's underbelly, with the final ear-punch knocking him off the wave. When Lanturn hit the ground, he was finally out cold.

Bridget, however, wasn't out of danger. The wave continued to push him until it crashed into the pond, throwing Bridget into the water. He disappeared under the water, then his unconscious form slowly rose up to the surface. It was a double knockout. Both trainers recalled their pokemon.

"Shocking..." Volkner mumbled off-handedly. He thought for sure he had Dawn beat, but wasn't expecting Bridget to manage an attack from within the wave. Shrugging it off, he quickly swapped pokeballs. "Alright then, you're up next! Jolteon!"

Dawn likewise quickly switched pokeballs when she recalled Bridget, as if she already knew who she wanted to send out next. "Conker, you're up now! Go!" she called out. Both pokemon emerged onto the field simultaneously. On Volkner's side of the field, a vupline electric pokemon with spikey yellow fur. On Dawn's side of the field, a cute electric squirrel. Volkner could barely contain his laughter.

"To think you'd use an electric-type pokemon against me... but THAT electric pokemon?"

Conker frowned. "-And just what's wrong with me!-"

"Don't underestimate him!" Dawn shot back.

"Whatever," Volkner muttered. "Jolteon, attack with Quick Attack and then follow up with Double Kick!"

"Conker, strike back at Jolteon with Thunder Hammer!" Dawn called out.

Conker's body gave off a slight glow as electricity sparked around its body. He started to charge forward but was suddenly struck by Jolteon's quick attack, which moved too quickly for Conker to follow. Conker was knocked back a few steps, but quickly recovered and turned to throw himself at Jolteon again. This time, Jolteon turned around to smash Conker with his hind legs instead, throwing Conker back. To Volkner's surprise, though, Conker immediately got up and tried to throw himself at Jolteon again.

Volkner stared at Conker for a moment, then turned to Dawn and narrowed his eyes at her. _She's up to something. I don't know what her 'Thunder Hammer' is, but it definitely isn't what she wants me to think it is. There's no way she'd just use Spark on another electric pokemon._

"Jolteon, keep your distance from it and attack with Pin Missile!" Jolteon backed off as quickly as he could move, distancing himself from the slower pachirisu that was trying to follow him. Jolteon then abruptly turned and bristled his fur, launching a barrage of needle-sharp pins at Conker. The pins caused Conker to stop in his tracks and drop down into a ducking position, trying to keep the pins from hitting him in the face.

"Good job, Jolteon! Keep it pinned like that!" Jolteon nodded and kept firing, keeping Conker pinned down under the barrage. As the pins continued to pelt it, Volkner noticed Conker glowing brighter and brighter. Volkner realized too late what Dawn was planning.

"Nice try, but you haven't thwarted our technique yet!" Dawn said to Volkner. "Conker, now! Unleash your power!" While still lying in a defensive position, Conker unleashed all the energy he had been storing in his body. A massive energy blast, containing more power than all the attacks Jolteon had hit Conker with thus far, fired out in all directions from Conker and covered a good portion of the battlefield. There was nowhere for Jolteon to run.

"A bide attack!" Volkner yelled in disbelief.

When the energy finally dissipitated, Jolteon was left lying unconscious on a smooth, flattened plane. The battlefield had been leveled off by the blast. With Jolteon unconscious, Conker finally stood up but then almost collapsed again. Enduring the barrage Jolteon threw at him had taken a lot out of him.

"Didn't see that coming at all..." Volkner muttered to himself as he recalled his Jolteon. He paused for a moment, holding the pokeball firmly in ihis hand. _After seeing her battle with Candice, I thought for sure I'd beat her easily... what's going on here? Am I losing my touch? _Volkner thought about it for a moment and then quickly shook his head.

"Well I'm far from finished yet!" Volkner shouted determinedly. He quickly switched pokeballs and released his next pokemon. "We won't fall for that a second time! Raichu, go!" The pokeball opened and a small, electric rodent appeared on the field. Raichu had a wide grin on his face and sparks shot out from his cheeks.

"We have other tricks up our sleeve! Conker, use Super Fang!"

"Raichu, Jolteon weakened this one a lot already! Take it out with Brick Break!"

Conker charged toward Raichu, mouth open and his huge incisors glowing. The glow they gave off made his incisors look even bigger. As he neared Raichu to land the attack, however, he was met by a swift chop to the head that stopped him in his tracks. Conker went down instantly. Dawn let out a sigh and recalled him.

"So much for that... guess finishing this one is up to Bahamut, then," Dawn said to herself. She was hoping to hold off on her big guns for as long as she could, Bahamut especially, but Dawn had a feeling that Bahamut could handle Volkner's Raichu better than any of her remaining pokemon. Thus, Dawn quickly prepped Bahamut's pokeball and released her pokemon. Bahamut struck a pose as he appeared, crossing his arms and leaning forward.

"-Let's go! It's been too long since I've had a real fight!-" Bahamut said with a confident grin.

_A garchomp. I had a feeling she'd pull that thing out,_ Volkner thought to himself. _Raichu doesn't stand a chance against this one. Maybe Luxray, but..._

"Bahamut, use Earthquake!" Dawn called out.

"Raichu, jump the attack and use Brick Break!" Volkner countered. Raichu charged toward Bahamut and jumped when Bahamut slammed his foot into the ground. Dawn was ready for it this time, though.

"Bahamut, strike it down with Dragon Claw!" she quickly commanded.

Bahamut pulled his foot back almost immediately and quickly switched tactics, barely shaking the ground at all with his Earthquake. "-Did you really think you'd avoid my attack so easily!-" Garchomp demanded as an orange energy surrounded his claws, making them look larger. As Raichu sailed toward it, Bahamut made a downward slash to knock Raichu out of the air and slam him into the ground.

"Let's see your Raichu dodge this one!" Dawn called out to Volkner. "Bahamut, finish it with Earthquake!"

"-You were a fool to challenge a dragon as mighty as I!-" Bahamut declared as he lifted one leg into the air. "-MY FOOTSTEPS SHAKE THE VERY EARTH UPON WHICH YOU STAND!-" Bahamut slammed his foot down, sending a powerful shockwave throughout the battlefield. "-THAT IS THE POWER OF A GARCHOMP!-"

The shockwave that shook the battlefield launch Raichu back, though not far enough for him to avoid landing on the cracking and shaking ground below. He cried out in pain as he was jostled about, struck by chunks of rock that separated from the ground and jutted up to strike him. When the ground finally settled, Raichu was lying unconscious. Volkner quickly recalled him.

"Didn't even land a hit. Damn..." Volkner muttered. "I have two pokemon left to her four. Three not counting her frozen torterra. Looks like I'll be putting a lot of faith in that legendary pokemon."

Volkner took another pokeball in his hand. "Luxray, your turn now!" Volkner called out. Holding out Luxray's pokeball, he released his pokemon. A lion-like electric pokemon emerged onto the field. Thick, black fur covered most of this pokemon's body with short, blue fur covering the rest. The pokemon had a fierce look in his eyes, but Bahamut didn't even flinch.

"Bahamut, good job! You can rest now!" Dawn said as she took Bahamut's pokeball in her hand. Bahamut looked back at her in confusion. "I'll need your strength to fight another pokemon of his later," she said. Bahamut nodded, accepting this explanation and allowing Dawn to recall him. Dawn then took another pokeball in her hand.

"I wasn't planning to use this pokemon in any of my gym matches, but after the things you said I decided I WOULD use it against you!" Dawn said to Volkner, glaring at him from across the field. "Since you're down to your last non-legendary pokemon, now seems like the perfect time to use it! So come on out! Mesprit!" The pokeball in Dawn's hand opened and out came Mesprit, the legendary pokemon of Lake Verity.

"Mesprit. One of the three lake pokemon," Volkner quietly noted. "Should have known she'd break out this pokemon in addition to whatever legendary pokemon she caught. Based on the forehead gem I'd say there's a good chance its a psychic-type." With that observation, Volkner decided on his plan of attack.

"Luxray, get in there and grab it with Crunch!" he called out. Luxray nodded and rushed across the battlefield, jumping as it neared Mesprit. He opened his mouth and snapped his jaws tightly around the pink part of Mesprit's head, causing it to cry out in pain. Keeping a firm grip on it, Luxray dragged Mesprit down to the ground.

"-Don't drain its emotions! Don't drain its emotions!-" Mesprit repeated to itself over and over. This WAS an official battle, afterall, so it couldn't fault Luxray for choosing the most effective means of attack.

"Mesprit, Extrasensory! Throw it off and then back away!" Mesprit's eyes and forehead gem flashed, releasing a psychic emanation. Luxray let go of Mesprit in surprise when it felt that emanation. An odd power then struck it, throwing Luxray back. Mesprit took the opportunity to fly up and off to the side, distancing itself from Luxray.

"Luxray, use Crunch again!" Volkner called out, hoping he could finish it off. Luxray quickly got back up and let out a low growl. He ran toward Mesprit again and lunged for it, mouth open.

"Mesprit, counter with Ice Beam!" Mesprit focused and fired a blue beam from the gem on its forehead. The beam fired straight into Luxray's open maw, first coating the inside of its mouth in ice and eventually forming into a block of ice around the pokemon's head. Luxray dropped to the ground and began shaking its head furiously, trying to break the ice.

"Finish it off with a Swift attack!" Mesprit nodded and quickly spun around, flicking its tail at Luxray. A flurry of star-shaped rays shot out from its tail, pelting Luxray one after the other. One stray star eventually shattered the ice surrounding Luxray's head, though this didn't help it any as that ended up being the same star that knocked Luxray out. Luxray went down and Volkner quickly recalled him.

So that's it then... Volkner stared at the pokeball he now held in his hand. If this was a normal gym match then not only would she have beat me, she would have done so more easily than pretty much any other gym leader. I have to admit, she had a lot of surprising techniques and strong pokemon up her sleeve. Volkner returned Luxray's pokeball to his belt and grabbed the dusk ball. _But this battle is different. This battle is still on, and I know this pokemon can make up for lost ground!_

"This is it then! My trump card!" Volkner yelled as he thrust the dusk ball toward the field. "Darkrai! GO!" The pokeball in Volkner's hand opened and released a black, demonic-looking pokemon. It was almost entirely black with a red collar that looked like an open mouth trying to eat the pokemon's own head. Dawn shuddered when it emerged, feeling the dark aura that surrounded it.

"So that's the legendary pokemon Volkner caught," Dawn said to herself. "I had a feeling that would be the one..."

"Hmph. You don't seem too surprised, so let's get straight to it," Volkner said. "Darkrai, show her your power! Dark Pulse!" Darkrai narrowed its eyes at Mesprit and thrust out one hand toward the pokemon, releasing a swirling blast of dark energy at it. Mesprit cried out in pain as it was struck and collapsed instantly.

"Whoa! One hit!" Dawn cried out in disbelief. "I know Mesprit wasn't at full strength, but its still a pretty sturdy pokemon..." Dawn shook her head and quickly recalled Mesprit. "Well no point getting worked up over that, I've still got more pokemon left!"

Dawn put Mesprit's pokeball back on her belt and then took another one in her hand. This one contained a pokemon she had used already and had been saving for this battle. "Bahamut, your turn again! Go!" she called out, releasing Bahamut from his pokeball again. Bahamut was ready to strike a pose and make his dramatic entrance, but even he was put off a bit by Darkrai's presence. A bit, anyway.

"-So, a truly villainous foe has emerged...-" Bahamut muttered. A grin quickly spread across his face. "-Then this shall be my greatest victory yet!-"

"Bahamut, attack with Dragon Claw!"

"Not so fast! Darkrai, use Dark Void!"

Bahamut started to charge across the battlefield with one hand raised back, ready to strike Darkrai. Darkrai landed the first hit, though, and formed a black sphere in its hand and flung it at Bahamut. The sphere engulfed Bahamut completely, stopping the dragon pokemon in its tracks. The sphere then disappeared, leaving Bahamut fast asleep in its wake.

"A special technique that puts pokemon to sleep. And its pretty fast. Just wonderful," Dawn grumbled. Knowing what type her last pokemon was, what had been looking like an easy victory for her before was now starting to look like it'd be a lot harder to obtain. She then sensed something... off. Looking at Bahamut again, she saw that he was shaking and could feel Darkrai's aura descending upon it.

"What the...? Is it causing nightmares with its mere presence?" Dawn wondered, then gasped. Recalling the events at Canalave, suddenly everything made sense. A legendary pokemon that could put people to sleep and cause nightmares.

_I get it now... that pokemon was what caused the nightmares at Canalave!_ Dawn realized. _But somehow, Dusk - I mean, Morrigan took care of that. So why does Volkner have that pokemon? Did she... no..._ Dawn slapped her hand against her forehead. _Knowing her, that's exactly what happened. She caught Darkrai, and now she's lending it to Volkner just so he can battle me. I feel like I've been set up now..._

"As you've probably noticed, just putting a pokemon to sleep is enough for Darkrai to deal with it," Volkner said to Dawn. "It causes intense nightmares to anything sleeping around it. And if that's not enough for you, we can intensify them even more! Darkrai, use Nightmare!" Darkrai nodded and extended a hand toward Bahamut, casting a visible dark aura over the pokemon that caused it to shake and convulse even more.

"-If this is truly the sort of competition I am to face, then I'll have my freedom in no time,-" Darkrai said gruffly, then cast a glare at Dawn. "-And my first act of freedom will be to put everyone in this room into a neverending nightmare.-"

_I get the feeling that pokemon doesn't like me,_ Dawn thought, wincing. Turning her attention to Bahamut again, she grimaced when she saw the way it was shaking. _Well this is just great. As long as Bahamut is asleep, he's at Darkrai's mercy. If this keeps up, we won't... Oh?_ Dawn blinked. Bahamut's shaking was lessening and Dawn could feel his aura stirring. _Chance!_

"Bahamut, Flamethrower! Aim below Darkrai!" Dawn called out. Volkner wondered what she was doing at first, but then Bahamut groggily raised his head and opened his mouth to fire a blast of flames at the ground under Darkrai. The flames rose up around Darkrai from there, burning it slightly. Darkrai growled in annoyance.

"Now! Double Dragon Claw!"

"-**THIS! NIGHTMARE! ENDS! NOW!**-" Bahamut declared, yelling in a rage as he rose up off the ground. Extending both hands, an orange aura surrounded his claws. He then dashed toward Darkrai as the last of the flames were dissipating and slashed Darkrai in an 'x', hitting with both claws simultaneously and knocking Darkrai back. Darkrai grunted, wincing in pain.

"Heh! Well aren't you just full of surprises!" Volkner said, grinning. "Darkrai, finish this one with Dark Void, then!" Darkrai glared at Bahamut and held out its hand toward the dragon pokemon, firing a swirling pulse of dark energy. Bahamut cried out in pain and was thrown back as he was struck, landing hard and immediately losing consciousness. Enduring the nightmares had simply drained too much of Bahamut's strength to endure the Dark Pulse, too.

"Got in a decent hit anyway, but looks like Bahamut lost too," Dawn said as she recalled her pokemon. She then immediately took another pokeball in her hand. "Then it comes down to this! Cresselia, I choose you!" Dawn called out, releasing the shimmering, crescent moon pokemon that she had met just the day before. When Cresselia emerged, she saw Darkrai and glared at it.

"-I see my trust in this trainer was not misplaced,-" Cresselia said to it. "-Her opponent truly has managed to capture you.-"

"-Something like that,-" Darkrai replied with a shrug. "-It hardly matters though. Once I beat this trainer, I will be set free. And you know very well, Cresselia, that though your powers may counter mine, in a direct confrontation you are powerless against me.-"

"-Then, again, I shall place my trust in this trainer.-" Cresselia replied.

"An interesting pokemon. Somehow, I feel like this was meant to happen," Volkner commented, noticing the way the two legendary pokemon seemed to be addressing each other. When he considered the means through which he obtained Darkrai, he couldn't help but think this was all pre-arranged.

Meanwhile, watching the battle from the sidelines, Cynthia was disturbed by this turn of events.

_I know of these two. Cresselia is a powerful defensive pokemon and her power negates Darkrai's special abilities, but she lacks offense. Darkrai, on the other hand, has plenty and has a distanct type advantage._ She took a quick look around, surveying the expressions of the rest of the audience gathered there. Everyone else looked rather concerned as well.

_Even they've realized its a psychic-type against a dark-type just by looking at them,_ Cynthia thought, then turned her attention back to the battlefield. _Dawn, I hope you have one heck of a plan up your sleeve._

"Darkrai, lets test that pokemon's defenses! Dark Pulse!" Volkner called out. Darkrai thrust its hand toward Cresselia, releasing a blast of dark energy. Cresselia cried out in pain as the energy struck her and pushed her back, landing a powerful blow. Cresselia stayed strong as she endured it, though, and still had plenty of fight left in her when it finally stopped.

"Cresselia, use Safeguard!" Dawn called out. Cresselia's body sparkled momentarily as a protective aura surrounded it.

"If you won't attack, you definitely won't beat Darkrai!" Volkner declared. "Darkrai, use Dark Pulse again!" Darkrai, still holding its hand out toward Cresselia, released another blast of energy. A swirling, purple and black mass of dark energy lanced out toward her and hit her head on. Cresselia cried out in pain, but again endured the hit. This time she was clearly weakening as her body drooped slightly. However, she had endured all Dawn needed her to.

"Cresselia, sorry to ask you to do this, but it's our best chance at winning her!" Dawn said to her. Cresselia nodded, knowing full well what command Dawn would give. "Cresselia... Lunar Dance!"

Cresselia rose up higher in the air and her body began to shimmer. Several crescent-shaped beams of light were cast about the battlefield from her body, mirroring her colors. Cresselia was channeling her true power now, pouring her life force into the technique.

"So this is her pokemon's signature technique, huh?" Volkner snorted. "Just a fancy light show. Darkrai, use Dark Pulse again and finish it." Darkrai raised its hand toward Cresselia and fired another blast of energy to finish her off. However, to Volkner's surprise, Cresselia suddenly dropped out of the air and hit the ground hard. She had fainted of her own accord, even though the 'light show' continued on.

"What?" Volkner laughed. "What did THAT accomplish?"

Dawn recalled Cresselia and took another pokeball in her hand. "THIS!" Dawn called out, thrusting the pokeball forward and releasing her pokemon. Bowser emerged from the pokeball, still sealed in his icy prison. However, that ice melted almost instantly when Bowser hit the battlefield. The light finally began to fade, restoring Bowser's strength as it did.

"So it was a support technique, just like Healing Wish..." Volkner chuckled and shook his head. "What a waste. Darkrai, put it to sleep with..." Volkner stopped midsentence, eyes widening. "Wait... no! You've been planning this all along!" he said in disbelief, realizing now why Dawn had Cresselia use Safeguard earlier.

"That's right!" Dawn called back. "Because it doesn't matter how many legendary pokemon I catch. In the end, a trainer's strongest pokemon are the ones that are with them all along, travelling with them and growing stronger together!"

"-I couldn't agree more!-" Bowser said confidently.

"Now!" Dawn thrust out her hand and pointed at Darkrai. "Let's give this battle a proper end by finishing it with our strongest technique! Bowser, use Frenzy Plant!"

Bowser let out a mighty roar and released a pair of thick roots from his back, sending them deep into the ground. Moments later, they burst out from the ground under Darkrai and rose up around it, twisting and trapping it between them. The roots began to tighten around Darkrai, slowly squeezing around it. Darkrai grunted and struggled, trying to push them away, but to no avail. The roots continued to contract, squeezing it more and more until Darkrai's body finally fell limp in their grasp.

"So that's it then..." Volkner collapsed to the ground and fell silent for a moment. "Ha... even with that legendary pokemon, someone finally managed to... ha... haha... hahahahahaha!" Volkner fell onto his back, losing himself in a fit of laughter.

"-I think he's snapped.-" Bowser muttered, then finally retracted his roots. Darkrai's limp body fell to the battlefield with a quiet thud.

Cynthia let out a sigh of relief. "She managed to win afterall... even I didn't see that coming." Cynthia looked toward Volkner and smirked. "Of course, he lost before this was even over. Yes, even early on in the battle, I think he was starting to enjoy himself." Cynthia smiled and turned to Dawn.

"Well then... I look forward to facing you, Dawn."

* * *

Author's Notes: You know, it hardly matters since I now know a way around it, but I just thought I'd say that the error that delayed my update last week is STILL in effect. I want to be really snarky and say something about this, but I'll bite my tongue. Or fingers. Whatever.

Well, that's it! The battle for Dawn's final badge is over and done with, and I actually feel pretty good about this chapter's battle. Next chapter will follow up on this one and mostly be a breather chapter before getting into the Elite Four battles. Those of you who read my previous sagas might recall that I do the Elite Four a bit differently. Basically Dawn will have no chance to heal or switch pokemon after each match, though she will have a short break to use her own items to heal her pokemon. Just like in the games.

Where it differs is that each Elite Four match will be 3 on 3 until Dawn gets to Cynthia, which is a 6 on 6 battle.

On another note, just want to address something from last chapter. I blame myself for this as I don't feel I got this across quite right, but there's nothing between Dawn and Morrigan. You couldn't even call them friends at this point, really. What I was trying to do was make Dawn seem kinda... homophobic I guess. Well, not quite that extreme, but the idea is supposed to be a bit off-putting to her. I don't have any actual pairings in mind involving her at this point. I did at one point contemplate Dawn/Dusk, though back then I had a very different story in mind. For one thing, Dusk was known as Venus. See if you can figure out why on your own, should be pretty obvious.

At this point, I actually have no pairings in mind for Dawn. I think things might be better off that way in her case. You could call her a chaste hero at this point, pretty much. Relationships just aren't a big concern for her.


	67. Chapter 66: One Last Break

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 66**

**One Last Break**

"Eight badges..." Dawn mumbled, smiling to herself as she admired her trainer's card. There were eight slots on the card for gym leader badges and now all of them had been filled. "It was a lot of hard work to get here, but I've got them. I've got all eight gym badges from across Sinnoh!"

"That's hardly an accomplishment," Lucas, who was leaning against a nearby wall, said tersely. "Even if it's hard to do, it's really just a ticket to get into the real challenge. The Elite Four. And after that you still have Cynthia to worry about, and she won't be easy."

"Killjoy," Dawn grumbled in response, quickly pocketing her trainer card.

Less than an hour had passed since Dawn had received her final gym badge from Volkner. After he had recovered from his fit of laughter, Volkner handed Dawn her badge and the Charge Beam TM. Everyone congratulated her, then her mother suggested they had a party at Dawn's villa to celebrate. And that was where they were now.

While Dawn had been trying to capture a legendary pokemon, and nearly dooming the world, her mother and Cynthia had been making arrangements to have Dawn's things moved to the villa. Of course, her villa was still mostly empty. Her belongings were all from her bedroom, and thus now one of the villa's bedrooms was the only room in the villa with furniture in it.

Instead of a well-furnished home, Dawn's villa now was more akin to a party hall. While getting her belongings there was easy enough for her mother to do alone, Cynthia had made other arrangements in anticipation of Dawn's victory over Volkner. In what would eventually be Dawn's living room there were several tables set up lined with food trays. The variety of foods amazed Dawn and left her wondering where Cynthia had gotten them all from, though she reasoned Cynthia likely knew a few good catering companies.

Dawn had been given first dibs at the food trays and had already eaten. Most of the other gym leaders and guests - the ones who came, anyway - had gotten their food as well and most of them were standing around talking to each other. Dawn was mostly standing by herself with the exception of Lucas and Barry, who was busy scarfing down a mountain of food. Among the gym leaders that were absent were Volkner and Candice, both of whom had left after the match.

"So, Dawn, have you given any thought to what strategies you'll use against the Elite Four and Cynthia?" Lucas casually asked her.

Dawn shook her head. "I'm not even sure what I'll be up against, really."

"Well, Cynthia uses a variety of pokemon, I can tell you that much," Lucas said to her. "She'll be your toughest opponent by far and you won't be able to abuse type advantage as easily, which is only going to make it even harder for you. Not to mention you'll be facing her after the rest of the Elite Four has weakened your pokemon, so you'll definitely want to stock up on items."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "I know that much already!"

"Oof ur..." Barry began to speak with a mouthful of food in his mouth. He stopped and swallowed. "Use your legendary pokemon!" he said to Dawn, jabbing a fork in her direction. "You've got two of them AND you've got a garchomp! Using them will give you a HUGE advantage!"

"Just having legendary pokemon isn't going give Dawn any real advantage over the Elite Four or Cynthia," Lucas countered, narrowing his eyes at Barry. "She'd need, like, some kind of god pokemon or something to really have any kind of advantage over them."

"Y-yeah, I definitely don't have anything like that!" Dawn said nervously. Barry and Lucas quirked an eyebrow at her but both decided to ignore the obvious nervousness, figuring Dawn would have used such a pokemon already if she really had one. Of those gathered in her villa, only Dawn and Cynthia knew what happened at the mountain.

"Well she should still take her legendary pokemon anyway! They're still pretty powerful!" Barry said to Lucas. He then dove back into his food, shovelling some kind of rice into his mouth.

"Geez, keep eating like that and you're going to choke," Lucas grumbled. "Anyway, Dawn shouldn't use both of her legendaries. They're both psychic-type." He then turned to Dawn and said, "I'd say go with either Mesprit or Cresselia, but not both. Cresselia seems like a pretty decent tank at least and you might be able to pull off that Lunar Dance manuever again."

"Cresselia's pretty durable, but her techniques are a bit lacking," Dawn said. "If I can teach her a new trick or two before tomorrow I'll probably use her, though. Bahamut and Bowser are pretty obvious choices too."

"You should probably see if you can find out what types the Elite Four use before you really settle on any pokemon," Lucas said with a shrug.

Meanwhile, while Dawn and Lucas were talking, Barry finally finished off his food. He wasn't ending with just that one plate, though. Already he was heading back to the tables for seconds.

"Geez! Haven't you had enough, Barry!" Dawn asked him. Naturally, Barry ignored her and continued hurrying toward the tables. Dawn let out a sigh. "Seriously, how can he eat so much?"

Lucas chuckled and shook his head. "You think that's bad?" he asked, then gestured toward a certain pink-haired gym leader that was also going back for seconds now. "They say Maylene there has quite the appetite herself. Want to take bets on who eats more before the night is out?"

"No thanks," Dawn replied, shaking her head.

"Well you two are certainly being quite chatty," Cynthia said as she approached the two, smiling at them. "Discussing strategies for your matches tomorrow, Dawn?"

"As much as I can, anyway," Dawn replied. With a sigh, she gestured to Lucas with one hand. "I think he has a better idea of what I'm up against than I do!"

Cynthia nodded. "That doesn't surprise me," Cynthia said, a smile crossing her lips. "That's why I've called in a few special guests."

Dawn blinked. "Special guests?"

"They should be arriving shortly," Cynthia said. "I was about to head out to greet them and bring them here, in fact. I'm sure you'll find meeting them to be beneficial to your battles tomorrow."

"Oh! I look forward to meeting them, then!" Dawn replied excitedly.

"You will be seeing them shortly, then," Cynthia replied, then made for the exit. Lucas watched her for a moment before turning to Dawn.

"You realize who she's getting, right?" Lucas asked her. Dawn shook her head. "Really... huh." Lucas shrugged. "Well I'm not going to tell you then." Dawn scowled at Lucas, but Lucas didn't flinch. He thought it was pretty obvious and wasn't going to tell her if she couldn't figure it out for herself.

"Oh, man! I can't believe how much food there is here!" Barry said as he returned with another heaping plate of food. "That Maylene though... I think she's going two plates at a time! If she eats all the food on me I'm fining her twenty million! Ten million for each plate!"

"Seems Barry is definitely beat then," Lucas noted wryly.

"What were you two talking to Cynthia about anyway?" Barry asked, then plopped down on the floor next to Lucas to dig into his food.

"She's bringing some special guests apparently," Lucas replied, then glanced down at Barry. "By the way, Barry, weren't you collecting badges too?"

"Mph?" Barry quickly swallowed a mouthful of some kind of meat. "I was, why?"

"So... you aren't now?" Dawn asked, giving him a quizical stare.

"Nope! 'Cause I've decided to skip straight to the really big fish!" Barry replied with a huge grin on his face. "There's a place here in the Battle Zone that only the strongest trainers are allowed to enter!"

"What's that?" Dawn asked.

"Not telling," Barry said, then turned his attention back to his plate of food.

Dawn sighed. "Everyone's keeping secrets now..."

* * *

"I think that Barry guy eats even more than you or me!" Maylene said as she entered one of the empty, dimly-lit rooms of the villa, closing the door behind her. "He's been shovelling a lot of food onto his plate..."

In a darkened corner of the room sat Crasher Wake, his face obscured by the shadows and his mask, which he rarely took off, sitting on the floor next to him. His grin could barely be made out in the darkness as Maylene set down one of the plates in front of him.

"Heh, well, we're hardly doing any better," Wake said to her as he took a fork in his hand. "But, hey! Us fighters need to keep our strength up!" he said, then picked up his plate and started shovelling food into his mouth. He nearly choked when Maylene sat down next to him and elbowed him in the gut.

"I think you could do with a bit less!" she teased him, then started digging into her own food. Wake grinned at her and shook his head.

"My weight is perfectly fine! Besides, what about you?" Wake asked. "You eat and eat and eat but you never put on any weight! I hope you're not overdoing it with your martial arts training."

Maylene swallowed a bite of food and shook her head. "Of course not."

"And definitely wouldn't do something silly like walking all the way to Snowpoint barefoot, right?" Now it was Maylene's turn to nearly choke on another mouthful. She quickly swallowed it down but said nothing. There didn't seem to be anything she could say in her defense this time as she did have a tendency to do just that.

"So what do you think about Dawn, anyway?" Wake asked, changing the subject. "Think she has any chance at beating the Elite Four or Cynthia?"

"Dawn..." Maylene's voice trailed off as she said the girl's name. Maylene set down her fork and recalled her own battle with Dawn. "She was a surprisingly powerful opponent. I'm sure she could take on the Elite Four, but Cynthia..."

"It'll be tough for her, but that kid's pulled out a lot of surprises!" Wake said. "It'll be one heck of a battle to see, that's for sure!"

* * *

While Maylene and Wake had retreated to a separate room where Wake could remove his mask without worrying about anyone seeing him, the remaining four gym leaders were gathered in the living room still. The four of them - Byron, Roark, Fantina, and Gardenia - were all standing around chatting with each other. Mostly about Dawn.

"Wasn't that a heck of a shock, though? To think they both caught legendary pokemon in a day!" Byron said, letting out a hearty laugh. "And the pokemon they had... didn't it feel as if that battle was meant to be?"

"Quite!" Fantina agreed. "It was, how should I say, magnifique!"

"Kinda like good versus evil in a way, wasn't it?" Gardenia suggested. "It was kinda fitting that Volkner would catch such a dark pokemon while he was being such a glum killjoy himself."

"They both make it seem like finding and catching legendary pokemon is easy though. Kinda bugs me," Roark muttered, then took a drink from a styrofoam cup he was holding. The cup contained soda as Cynthia didn't order anything alcoholic for their little get together. After taking a sip, he stared into the liquid contemplatively. "Someone should be making sure legendary pokemon don't fall into the wrong hands..."

"Ah, you worry too much!" Byron said, giving his son a rather hard pat on the back that caused him to nearly spill his drink. "With so many powerful trainers around, is one or two legendary pokemon in the 'wrong hands' really any worse than those same people having pokemon at all?"

"Oui. I am sure Dawn's own pokemon of legends will give her little edge over the Elite Four or Cynthia," Fantina said to Roark. "Truly, these pokemon seem rather limited in their capability as well. Both, as you no doubt noticed, were psychic-type." Fantina smirked. "Even my pokemon would, thusly, be able to deal with Dawn's legendary pokemon."

Gardenia shuddered. "Ghosts..." she mumbled.

"Mon frere, that attitude will trouble you if you ever encounter a ghost and grass type pokemon!" Fantina teased Gardenia. The grass-type gym leader shuddered again. She loved grass-type pokemon, but hated ghosts. She didn't know what she'd do if she ran into a pokemon that was both.

"Anyone that has legendary pokemon would undoubtedly be a strong trainer too, though," Roark pointed out. "Just look at Dawn! In addition to those two legendary she has powerful pokemon like garchomp and ramparados in her possession."

"Heh! I'd be more impressed if she had a bastiodon," Byron said. "With bastiodon's defensive power, she'd be well on her way to beating the Elite Four!"

"No, what you need against powerful trainers like them is a powerful pokemon like ramparados," Roark shot back, turning to face his father.

Byron narrowed his eyes at Roark. "You trying to say your Ramparados is better than my Bastiodon?"

"I'm not 'trying' to say anything," Roark said, narrowing his eyes at his father in return. "I'm flat out saying it."

"Heh." Byron grinned. "Those are fighting words, Roark!" Byron made a fist and slammed it into the palm of his hand. "Care to take this outside boy!"

"Hell yeah!" Roark grinned. "Since my cranidos is evolved now, I think it's time we settled this once and for all!"

"Oh, I'm looking forward to this!" Byron said. The two of them then headed outside. Fantina and Gardenia looked at each other, shrugged, then followed after.

* * *

"Hmm? I wonder what those four are up to?" Professor Rowan quietly wondered. He had been standing outside with Joanne when Byron, Roark, Fantina, and Gardenia stepped outside and then down the stairs that lead up the hill that Dawn's villa was situated on. "Surely they aren't leaving already?" he wondered.

"I doubt they'd leave without saying anything," Joanne reasoned, shrugging. "Everyone here is a trainer, perhaps they've decided to have a battle?"

"Ah. I'm sure you're right," Roark said. He then chuckled to himself. "Surely they'd at least take something with them if they were leaving, anyway. Cynthia ordered far too much food. I know I won't be leaving empty handed."

"Yes, I noticed you eying the sweet trays earlier," Joanne said with a smirk. "Now shouldn't you be more careful of what you eat at your age, sir?"

The professor reacted as if he had been struck. "Well! That was quite rude!" he said gruffly. "Under the circumstances, I'll chalk that up to stress, young lady!"

"Stress?" Joanne quirked an eyebrow. "Having your daughter rising through the pokemon league ranks so quickly is far from stressful if that's what you mean. And it certainly doesn't measure up to the stress from, say, becoming a contest star like I did in my youth."

"Hmph. I see," Rowan muttered. "I must admit, though, I will certainly be curious to see how the battle between Dawn and Cynthia turns out."

"Because they both worked with you?" Joanne asked. The professor nodded.

"Yes. The pokemon she caught, and the notes she took, certainly helped in my early research," he said, then chuckled. "You know, there seems to be a trend these days. Young, prodigy trainers with a pokedex rise up and claim the title of Champion in their region."

"An interesting observation..." Joanne said quietly.

"Speaking of interesting observations," Professor Rowan pointed toward the stairs. Several figures could be seen walking up the steps. Seven in total.

"I'll let her know they're here," Joanne said, then went inside to fetch her daughter.

The seven figures - Candice, Flint, Volkner, and Cynthia among them - approached the villa and stopped in front of the entrance to stare at the building in disbelief.

"Whoa! Just check this place out!" a green-haired man wearing a black tank top and orange shirts said in disbelief. "This place really belongs to an eleven-year-old girl? She's really something!"

"Impressive, for sure," an old lady dressed in winter clothes said. "But owning a large house has nothing to do with one's competence as a trainer."

The green-haired one laughed. "Wasn't saying anything of the sort! Just sayin' she has a nice house all to herself."

"It's... interesting, I suppose," a purple haired, glasses-wearing man commented. He didn't seem all that interested in the villa and, instead, turned his attention to a book he had been carrying at his side.

"You all certainly wasted no time coming out here," Professor Rowan said to them, chuckling to himself. "It's been some time since I've seen the five of you together like this."

"Heh! Only one of your trainers could pull off something like this!" Flint said to him, then jabbed his thumb in Candice's direction. "And you have this one here to thank for us getting here so quickly! Man, once she gets fired up there's no stopping her!"

"Hey! You wanted to get here tonight, right?" Candice said to him, grinning. "Anyway, I'm going to head inside and find Maylene. I think she wanted to talk about pokemon accessories." Candice then went to the front door, passing by the professor and heading into the villa.

"It's hard for even me to believe yet another of my trainers is making a challenge against the Elite Four," Professor Rowan said, eying Cynthia. "Seems lightning strikes twice afterall, doesn't it?"

"It certainly does," Cynthia said in agreement. "All of your trainer assistants seem quite talented, though in light of recent events it hardly seems surprising that Dawn shined above the rest." At that moment, Dawn emerged from the villa along with her mother, Lucas, and Barry. "Ah, speak of the devil..."

Dawn stopped only a few feet in front of the door and looked over the group of trainers gathered in disbelief. "You guys are... the Elite Four!"

"That's right!" Flint replied with a grin. "Maybe we should introduce ourselves? I'm Flint!" Flint pointed his thumb inward. "When I was younger, someone once told me that a flint was something you used to start a fire with. I've been training fire-type pokemon ever since!"

"I'm Aaron," the green-haired man said, introducing himself next. "I train the most powerful and beautiful of bug-type pokemon." Aaron bowed, placing one arm on his stomach and the other behind his back. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Umm..." Barry's eyes shifted back and forth in confusion, realizing Aaron was facing him, not Dawn. "That's Dawn," he said, pointing at her.

Aaron winked. "I know," he said, then straightened up. Barry eyed Aaron suspiciously and stepped back behind Dawn.

"Don't mind that one," the old lady among them said, then smiled at Dawn. "A pleasure to meet you, dear child. I'm Bertha. I have a preference for ground-type pokemon."

Last to introduce himself, the purple-haired man took his time to mark off the page in the book he was reading and close it. Then he bowed politely to Dawn and smiled. "So you're the trainer that, to paraphrase Flint, 'managed to light a fire in Volkner's heart again'?"

"Umm... I guess?" Dawn replied, blinking.

"A pleasure to meet you, young lady. I'm Lucian," he said to her. "I am a user of psychic-type pokemon and seeker of knowledge. I do hope I will get the chance to see you live up to your reputation in battle tomorrow."

"Your exploits have certainly left even them with rather high expectations for you, Dawn," Cynthia said to her. "Of course, I didn't just bring them here to introduce them to you."

"That's right! We're here to PARTY!" Flint yelled, thrusting a fist into the air.

"Yeah! A party is the perfect way to loosen up before a big battle!" Aaron said, nodding and grinning. "And this one is way too quiet! Let's get in there and make some noise!" Aaron then moved past Dawn and the others, heading into the villa.

Bertha sighed wistfully. "Ah, to be young again..." she said quietly. "I have no interest in a party, however I noticed a rather interesting battle back there." Bertha bowed her head slightly to Dawn. "If you'll excuse me," she said, then turned to go watch the fight between Byron and Roark.

"I believe I will stay out here and catch up on my reading for now," Lucian said, opening his book again. "After certain... recent events, I've found myself taking an interest in Sinnoh's history," he said, eying Dawn.

"Speaking of that, didn't you have something to say to her, Volkner?" Flint said, slapping the blonde-haired gym leader on the shoulder. "I'll be waiting inside!" he added, then headed into the villa to join the party. Volkner then took a few steps forward to stand in front of Dawn.

"I have to say, that was an amazing battle earlier, Dawn," Volkner said to her. "Against you, even the Elite Four will be pushed to their limit! So you better give 'em heck tomorrow!"

"Your attitude really changed suddenly after that battle," Dawn said to Volkner. "You sure I didn't hit you with one of those attacks?"

"Haha! Positive!" Volkner replied, then placed a hand on Dawn's shoulder. "Dawn, for some of us, it can be lonely at the top so to speak. As a gym leader, I always look forward to the next challenge, to seeing what the next trainer to come my way will throw at me. But when those battles start to become boring, when no one can truly challenge me anymore, they start to feel more like a chore. I started to wonder if there was any point in going on, if anyone would truly be able to challenge me again." Volkner chuckled quietly.

"Heck, I was going to challenge the Elite Four just in the hopes of having a decent battle for a change. But the way you battled today, the stunts you pulled, you were truly amazing, Dawn."

"Umm..." Dawn felt like her face was burning up, blushing from the praise. "Th-thanks Volkner..."

"Don't mention it!" he said with a grin. "Anyway, I have to go do something. Mind if I go up on your balcony?"

Dawn blinked in confusion. "Umm... sure?" she said.

"Thanks! Catch ya later then!" he said, then took off into the house.

Lucas sighed. "Geez. They keep praising you like you're some kind of chosen one or something..." he grumbled.

"Th-that's silly!" Dawn said while shooting Cynthia a nervous glance. Cynthia just smiled reassuringly. "A-anyway! No point missing out on the rest of the party, right?" she said, then quickly ran inside.

"Well I hope the pressure doesn't get to her at least," Cynthia said, then turned to Professor Rowan. "And you must be getting quite the feeling of deja vu, professor."

"Indeed..." the professor replied. "Indeed..."

* * *

Meanwhile, up on the balcony, Volkner stepped out of the villa and walked up to the edge. After staring out at the Resort Area for a moment, he let out a sigh.

"I know you're watching all of this, so you might as well come out now," he said. Suddenly a vortex opened behind him. Volkner turned around just as Morrigan stepped out of it with a smirk on her face.

"Not even going to try to keep that pokemon or double cross me?" Morrigan asked him.

Volkner reached down to his belt and removed a dusk ball from it, then held it up and looked at it. "This?" he said. Volkner shrugged. "I have no use for a pokemon like this," he said, then tossed the dusk ball to Morrigan. "It really doesn't suit me."

"Of course not," Morrigan said, chuckling to herself. "That was quite a battle, though."

"It was, but I feel like it was somehow arranged that way." Volkner smirked. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"Maybe," Morrigan replied, then turned and started to walk back into the vortex. "But truthfully... fate just works in strange ways," she said, then disappeared into the vortex.

"Strange ways indeed..." Volkner muttered to himself, then chuckled. "Well, guess I have a party to get back to now..."

* * *

Author's Notes: This chapter turned out longer than I thought it'd be, not that I'm complaining. I was also really slow writing this one but somehow finished on time...

In any case, next week starts the Elite Four challenge. That will be 3 chapters at least, including Dawn's battle with Cynthia. Then another fairly short battle series will follow after that, though it will still probably push this well into the 70's range for chapter count.

And here I thougt the Sinnoh Saga would be my shorter one... I blame the way I decided to do gyms. Pushing the gyms to the end just left Dawn meandering around a lot in chapters that otherwise probably would have been gym battle chapters. That'd be one of the issues anyway, I'd say. Also, in earlier sagas I tended to do more planning well in advance and had rough drafts of sorts for chapters to keep my thoughts straight. With that said, I think it's time I started seriously plotting out the Johto Saga on the side and got the first Johto chapter ready to go up when the last chapter of this saga does.


	68. Chapter 67 Pt1: Sinnoh League

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 67**

**Sinnoh League Part 1**

Dawn couldn't believe what she was seeing. The building she now stood outside of, the massive arena where pokemon league battles took place, looked like a castle. The main entrance was even through a wooden gate, which was kept open. Though, inside, Dawn could see a brick corridor leading to another, more typical set of glass doors that lead into the foyer.

"They really went over the top with the Sinnoh League HQ, didn't they?" Dawn wondered in amazement.

Dawn was alone at the entrance to the Sinnoh League HQ. After arriving at the castle, everyone else had gone inside. The gym leaders, her mother, Barry, Lucas, and the professor were already finding a place inside to watch the matches from. The Elite Four and Cynthia had also all gone in already to get ready for the match as well. That left only Dawn impatiently waiting outside.

"I'm getting impatient out here!" Dawn griped, then quickly checked her poketch. She had only a few more minutes until the start of her match. Knowing this, she let out a sigh and looked at the castle again. "I wonder what's inside here, anyway? It never occurred to me to go check it out. Couldn't hurt to peek through the door anyway..."

With that in mind, Dawn walked into the stone and brick corridor past the castle gates and headed for the door. Her footsteps echoed throughout the corridor as she walked down the stone floor. When she finally reached the door and looked inside, she was shocked. Immediately inside the castle was a pokemon center and a pokemart set-up.

"I wish someone told me what was inside," Dawn grumbled as she reached for the handle. "Now I feel silly for waiting outside so long..." Pulling on the handle, Dawn opened the door and stepped inside.

Normally, this would be the part where Dawn would head over to the nurse and have her pokemon looked after. However, her pokemon were already well prepared and rested for the battles ahead. This time, it was Dawn who was unprepared. For that reason, she approached the pokemart counter instead.

"Can I help you?" the male cashier asked her, putting on a winning smile.

"Well I'm about to challenge the Elite Four, so..."

The cashier held up a finger. "Say no more! Just tell me how much you're willing to spend and if you'd prefer healing items, revives, or an even mix."

Dawn told the cashier what she needed and handed over the required funds. She had more than enough to cover the items she had bought. A few revives and full restores. By the time she had finished making her purchases it was time to head out onto the field.

Between the pokemon center setup and the pokemart was a large entrance that lead into another stone-hewn corridor. A pair of attendants dressed in red blocked the entrance, but stepped aside when Dawn showed them her trainer card with all eight badges stuck to it. Dawn then walked down the corridor and out onto the field, where everyone was waiting for her. She stopped just in front of the arena-side exit to scan the crowd gathered to watch the battles.

"Looks like everyone's here..." she noted quietly. In addition to the gym leaders, family, and friends, Dawn could make out May, Melany, Rina, and Ashley seated near the top row. Cheryl, Riley, and Buck could also be seen among them. Cheryl had been invited by Joanne to watch the matches, Riley by Byron, and Buck by Flint.

_I can only think of two people missing from this scene. Mira, who I don't think would actually have any reason to be here, and the other..._ Dawn sighed. _Probably watching from her own private alternate dimension..._

"Hey! Are you going to keep me waiting all day or what!" a voice called out impatiently from across the field. Dawn decided to finally get moving and walked up to the battlefield.

The battlefield was far more extravagant than anything Dawn had battled on up until that point, though the overall design was similar to the one at the Battleground. Slightly off to the right side of the field was a large, artificial pond. It was large enough to house a wailord, though just barely. White markings formed the perimeter of the battlefield, which was further fenced in by a fairly high wall made to look like it was made from large, gray bricks. The wall was a few feet taller than Dawn herself.

Finally, there was the trainer's platforms. There were two of them, one on each side of the field. The one on Dawn's side was, obviously, for the challenger, while the one on the opposite side was for the Elite Four. Each had a flight of stairs leading up to a small, steel platform with guard rails. Attached to the rail at the front was a holder for three pokeballs. After climbing up the stairs, Dawn unclipped three pokeballs from her belt and put one into each slot. Across the field her opponent, Aaron of the Elite Four, waited impatiently on his own platform.

"About time you got here!" Aaron said, grinning. "You ready to get this started?"

"Ready when you are!" Dawn replied excitedly. She then grabbed one of the pokeballs from the holder to prepare for battle. Dawn pointed the pokeball out toward the massive battlefield and pressed the button. "Captain Falcon, I choose you!"

"Ok! Let me take you on!" Aaron said as he took one of his pokeballs in hand. "By beating you here today, I'll come one step closer to becoming perfect! Just like my bug pokemon!" Aaron then held out his pokeball to release his pokemon as well. "Yanmega! I choose you!"

A pair of red beams fired out onto the battlefield from the pokeballs held by each trainer. On Dawn's side of the field, the red beam materialized into her staraptor, Captain Falcon. On Aaron's side, it materialized into a rather large dragonfly pokemon. The pokemon had huge coumpound eyes on either side of its head and three pairs of wings; two large pairs in the front and a third, smaller pair near the end of its body.

_A pretty menacing looking bug pokemon... well, I wouldn't have expected any less from one of the Elite Four!_ Dawn thought with a smirk. _But a bug pokemon is still a bug pokemon!_

"Captain Falcon, use Brave Bird! Let's deal a critical blow right from the start!" Captain Falcon extended her wings and quickly took off into the air. She flew straight up toward the roof of the arena before pulling a vertical u-turn to dive toward the ground, building up power in the dive. She pulled out of the dive at the last second, putting herself on a crash course with Yanmega as a blue, flaming aura surrounded her.

"Yanmega, evasive maneuvers! Detect!" Gaining a flash of insight, Yanmega tilted his body and floated off to the side slightly. As Captain Falcon flew past, the power Captain Falcon was exuding pushed Yanmega out of the way.

"It won't evade a second time! Come back around with another Brave Bird!" Dawn called out. Captain Falcon quickly circled around while that blue aura still burned around her. She was soon barrelling toward Yanmega again and the short distance between them quickly closed. Just as it seemed like Captain Falcon would land the blow, Yanmega skirted to the side slightly. It still took a glancing blow as Captain Falcon's wing grazed against its body, but it evaded a direct hit. Dawn couldn't help noticing Yanmega was moving faster now.

_It must have some kind of speed increasing ability,_ Dawn realized.

"Our turn to attack now, Yanmega! Show them the true power of bug pokemon with Bug Buzz!" Yanmega let loose a terrible, high-pitched buzzing noise at the retreating Captain Falcon. As fast as she was moving, Captain Falcon wasn't moving faster than the speed of sound. Yanmega's sound burst soon caught up to her and caused her to screech in pain when she heard it. The burning aura that had been around her dispersed and Captain Falcon came to a stop, hovering in place.

"Geez... his pokemon is getting pretty annoying, especially with that speed and manueverability..." Dawn grumbled. "Captain Falcon, let's switch things up! Aerial Ace!" Captain Falcon angled up, taking off into the air again and turning around to fly toward Yanmega while above it. After closing the distance between them, Captain Falcon quickly dove down and gained a sudden burst of speed before striking Yanmega with a nearly unavoidable attack. Yanmega was thrust into the ground, taking a hard blow, while Captain Falcon was able to slow down and level off her flight path before hitting the ground herself.

"Looks like she's onto us now, Yanmega! Time to make a U-Turn!" Aaron called out without missing a beat. Yanmega quickly flew up and shot toward Captain Falcon, but flew past her instead of hitting her. At first, it seemed as though Yanmega's attack had missed. But it quickly corrected this, doubling back to ram into Captain Falcon's face while pulling a u-turn to fly back toward Aaron and straight into a waiting pokeball. Aaron put Yanmega's pokeball back in the dish and then took another one in his hand.

"Scizor! Go!" he called out, releasing a bug pokemon covered in red, steel armor onto the field. Captain Falcon was still shaking off the hit from Yanmega's U-Turn when Scizor suddenly appeared. She looked at this new arrival with a mix of confusion and resentment.

"He's switched pokemon... Alright, then! Let's hit this one with Brave Bird!" Dawn called out. Captain Falcon quickly complied, flying up and pulling a sommersault in the air to put her on a short dive toward Scizor. The armored bug pokemon braced itself, but still took a hard hit as a fiery, blue bird slammed into it. Captain Falcon kept pushing after the initial blow, sliding Scizor across the ground.

"You left yourself wide open! Scizor, finish this with Iron Head!" Scizor lowered its guard and then quickly lowered his head. There was a loud crack as Scizor's iron plated skull met Captain Falcon's considerably less durable head. The blue aura surrounding Captain Falcon faded and she immediately dropped to the ground, knocked unconscious by the blow to her head. Dawn quickly recalled her.

"That Yanmega must have taken more out of Captain Falcon than I thought... wasn't it using bug-type attacks?" Dawn wondered aloud as she recalled Captain Falcon. It seemed odd that Captain Falcon went down so quickly, though in retrospect she could remember the attacks had taken more out of her than it seemed like they should. Shaking her head, Dawn pushed her thoughts aside.

_Need to focus on this one for now, worry about finishing off Aaron's Yanmega later,_ Dawn thought. She then took a pokeball in her hand and held it out toward the field, releasing her next pokemon. "Bahamut, I choose you!" she called out, releasing her loud mouthed dragon pokemon onto the field. _If I sent out a fire-type pokemon, he'd probably switch to something less weak to it. Bahamut should still be able to finish this one._

"-BAHAMUT IS HERE!-" Bahamut roared when he emerged onto the field. He flexed his arms as he let out a mighty roar.

"Quite the pokemon you have there," Aaron said with a grin. "Well, your dragon is no doubt powerful, but it's no match for MY Scizor! Scizor, show that thing your REAL power with an X-Scissor attack!" Scizor nodded and started flapping its wings. Though Scizor's iron-clad body was far too heavy for its wings to lift, the flapping gave it a boost of speed as it charged across the field with its arms outstretched.

"Bahamut, take this one out with Flamethrower!" Dawn called out. As Scizor approached, Bahamut opened his mouth and released a conical blast of flames at the oncoming pokemon. Scizor saw the flames and tried to slow down, but was unable to stop itself from charging straight into it. The flames engulfed Scizor's head and upper body, heating the metal of its body. By the time Scizor had managed to stop, it collapsed, falling to the ground with smoke rising from its body in small trails.

"-You call THAT powerful!-" Bahamut growled as he cut off the flames. "-YOU'RE A THOUSAND YEARS TOO EARLY TO BE FACING THE LIKES OF ME!-"

"Heh, didn't see that coming. If it had been a Fire Fang attack, we woulda been fine!" Aaron said with a grin as he recalled his pokemon. He quickly swapped for another pokeball from the holder. "Alright, let's see how you handle this magnificant example of a bug pokemon! Vespiquen, I choose you!" Aaron held out his pokeball and released his pokemon, sending out a vespiquen onto the field. Aaron's Vespiquen had the same menacing look on its face that Dawn had gotten used to seeing on Elincia's face.

"Bahamut, that's enough for now! Return!" Dawn called out. Bahamut, still upset by how easily his opponent went down, snorted derisively as he was recalled. Dawn placed Bahamut's pokeball back in the holder and then took another one in her hand.

"Axel, your turn now! Go!" The pokeball in Dawn's hand opened up, firing a red beam toward the field that materialized into a rapidash with golden-hued flames burning along its neck and back. "Axel, charge straight into the battle with Flare Blitz!" Enveloping his body in flames, Axel charged across the battlefield.

"-I'll definitely beat this pokemon!-" Axel growled, determined to defeat Aaron's Vespiquen.

"Vespiquen, Defend Order!" Aaron called out. Vespiquen summoned a swarm of larvae from her hive-like abdomen, commanding them to cover her. The larvae formed up on the front of her body to help shield her from the attack, taking the brunt of the blow as Axel's flaming body finally slammed into her. Several larvae dropped to the ground, burned by the attack while Vespiquen was knocked back several feet. After a moment, the burned larvae managed to get up and retreated back into their hive.

"Vespiquen, Heal Order!" Aaron ordered. The larvae that remained on Vespiquen's body transfered energy into her, healing the damage inflicted by Axel's attack. Axel, watching this from only a few feet away, narrowed his eyes in a glare.

"Surround it with a Fire Spin!" Axel was all too happy to comply when Dawn called out another attack, breathing out a swirling blast of flames that was aimed at the ground. The flames swirled around Vespiquen, rising up like a tornado and then closing in around her. All of the larvae, exposed to the flames, immediately dropped away from her body and retreated into the hive.

"Looks like we'll have to attack from the flames... Vespiquen, use Power Gem!" Vespiquen held up her clawed hands to a red gem on her forehead and focused, firing a beam of white light from the gem. The beam lanced out from in the flames and struck Axel, causing him to stagger back. The laser struck him across the flank and was surprisingly painful.

"Axel, intensify those flames!" Dawn called out, hoping to deal with Vepsiquen's defenses by wearing it down by trapping it in incredibly intense flames. Axel complied, firing another blast of flames at the base of the flaming tornado that was already in place. The flaming tornado increased in size both on the inside and out, leaving very little room in the flames for Vespiquen.

"Whoa... heh... getting pretty hot in here..." Aaron said, pulling on the collar of his top. "Whew! That wall of fire is pretty troublesome! But I bet another Power Gem will finish this!" Aaron raised his hand and pointed at Axel with a wink. "Let's do that and finish this!"

"Umm... " Dawn blinked a few times and then shook her head. "Whatever. Axel, we're charging straight into this! Finish her with Flare Blitz!"

Vespiquen raised her clawed hands to her forehead gem again and fired a ray of light, cutting straight through the flames with the laser. Meanwhile, Axel wreathed his body in flames again and charged into the flaming tornado, throwing his flaming body at Vespiquen. The laser from Vespiquen's Power Gem burned across the side of Axel's body. However, when he rammed into Vespiquen, both pokemon were knocked out almost instantly from the collision. The flames dispersed and both pokemon fell to the ground.

"An interesting outcome, but my other plan was Destiny Bond anyway!" Aaron said, grinning as he recalled his fallen Vespiquen. He quickly swapped pokeballs. "Yanmega, it all boils down to this now! Go!"

"This is taking way too much of a toll on my team," Dawn noted grimly. Quickly swapping pokeballs as well, she proceeded to release her final pokemon onto the field as well.

Two red beams fired out onto the battlefield. From one of them, Dawn's Bahamut re-emerged onto the field. From the other, Aaron's Yanmega. Seeing his opponent, Bahamut was immediately dismissive.

"-A bug like you has no chance against a dragon like me,-" Bahamut growled in disappointment. If Yanmega's compound eyes were capable of showing anger, it would have been glaring daggers at him.

"Bahamut, set up a Sandstorm!" Dawn called out. She didn't know if she'd be able to reliably hit Aaron's Yanmega this time around, so instead she opted for an indirect source of damage. Bahamut jumped into the air and spun around, releasing a swirling blast of sand across the battlefield without any hesitation. However, he wasn't giving it the same enthusiasm he usually did.

"Yanmega, attack with Bug Buzz!" Yanmega let out a high-pitched buzzing noise, assaulting Bahamut with an odd soundwave. Bahamut grimaced and fell to his knees when he heard it, his body becoming wracked with pain. Bahamut realized now that his opponent meant business.

"Sandstorm will wear it down... but we still need to hit it with something..." Dawn mulled over her dillema for a moment and then snapped her fingers. "Got it! Bahamut, use Dragon Rage but fire it in short bursts instead of one big one!"

"-Rapid fire!-" Bahamut grinned and quickly stood up and grinned. "-You're better than I thought, but you won't last against this!-" Bahamut threw out his arms and let out a loud roar. "-A DRAGON'S SPIRIT IS TEMPERED THROUGHOUT THE AGES! CAN YOU WITHSTAND THE TRUE FURY OF THAT SPIRIT!-" he yelled as blue flames began to lick at the corners of his lips.

"-**TAKE THIS! RAPID! FIRE! DRAGON RAGE!**-" Bahamut began firing a series of small, blue fireballs, each one about a fourth of the size of a regular Dragon Rage attack. Yanmega zipped about, trying to dodge them, but the direction of the blasts was almost random and it still took the odd hit. With the sand blasting its body in addition to the weakened Dragon Rage bursts, Yanmega soon went down.

"Hehe! That worked out pretty well!" Dawn said, feeling proud of her success. "Great job, Bahamut! You deserve a good rest for that one!" she then said as she recalled her pokemon.

As Aaron recalled his fallen Yanmega, he let out a disheartened sigh. "I lost with the most beautiful and toughest of the bug pokemon... We lost because I wasn't good enough..." Aaron clapped his hands together. "That's it! Back to training camp! Let's hear it for me!"

In the wake of their battle, the arena was already pretty quiet. Yet, suddenly, that silence was much more noticeable.

"No... that was wrong..." Aaron said sheepishly, then flashed Dawn a grin. "Anyway, you've still got three trainers to go and they're all tougher than me! You've only gotten a taste of the Elite Four's true power!" With that, Aaron quickly turned and left the battlefield.

Dawn let out a sigh and collapsed to the floor of her platform. "If he's the weakest, I'm really in trouble," she said quietly. "I thought a bug trainer would be easy, but I seriously underestimated this guy." Dawn took a deep breath and clenched her fists in determination.

"Okay! From now on, I need to give these battles my best! The next trainer uses ground-type pokemon, so I'll start strong and never let up!"

"Oh my! Are you lying down on the job, dear?" An eldery woman's voice suddenly called out to her. Dawn quickly bolted up onto her feet. Across the field from her, she could see an elderly woman emerging from the entrance corridor on the other side and stepping up to the trainer's platform.

"Now that's more like it," Bertha said. She then laid out two pokeballs in the pokeball holder on her platform, keeping one pokeball in her hand. "Now, dear child, since we already met, shall we skip the pleasantries and move straight to the battle?"

"That works for me!" Dawn called back. Having psyched herself up, Dawn was more than ready for this match. Like Bertha, she placed two pokeballs in her holder after removing the other two that were still there. She kept a third pokeball in her hand and pointed it toward the field. "I'm going to start this off with a really strong pokemon!"

"An excellent choice!" Bertha said, then angled her own pokeball toward the field. "Then, let us begin! Hippowdon, I choose you!" she called out, releasing a black hippo pokemon onto the field. The pokemon had several holes on its back that looked almost like nozzles, which immediately began blasting sand across the field.

"Guess I can't rely on this one's healing techniques, then," Dawn noted grimly. "Well, here goes nothing! Cresselia, I choose you!" The pokeball in Dawn's hand opened now and a red beam fired out onto the field. From that beam, a floating, crescent-shaped, psychic pokemon emerged. Having managed to defeat Darkrai with Dawn's aid, the psychic-type legendary now remained in her hands.

"Cresselia, set up a Reflect!" Dawn called out quickly. Cresselia's eyes flashed and a blue, shimmering barrier surrounded her body and then disappeared. Though it couldn't be seen, the barrier would protect her from physical blows.

"So this is one of these... 'legendary pokemon'..." Bertha noted quietly. Though the woman had lived a long life, this was her first time meeting a legendary pokemon. She felt priveleged in a way and chuckled to herself. "Well, if you're going to play defensively with your legendary pokemon, then we shall also bolster our abilities. Hippowdon, Curse!" Hippowdon growled and a dark aura descended upon it, slowing down its bodily functions and thus decreasing its speed. In return, Hippowdon gained greater strength and endurance.

"Now, Hippowdon, Crunch!" Bertha commanded. Even though it was her first time meeting such a pokemon, she still knew a psychic-type when she saw one. Hippowdon charged across the field - or, rather, lumbered across it - and opened its gaping maw to reveal several large teeth as it closed the distance.

"Cresselia, use Grass Knot!" Cresselia closed her eyes and concentrated, her body letting off a green glow briefly. This allowed her to pull up several vines and wrap them around Hippowdon, stopping it in its tracks only a few feet away and pulling it down hard. Hippowdon growled in pain as it hit the ground, the impact reverberating through its body.

But Hippowdon didn't stay down. Within seconds, it focused its strength and rose up, snapping the vines to continue on the attack. It quickly closed the remaining gap between itself and Cresselia and bit down, snapping its powerful jaws hard on the underside of Cresselia's body. Cresselia cried out in pain, but the Reflect she set up earlier lessened the impact.

"Cresselia, throw it back with a Psychic attack now!" Dawn called out without missing a beat. Cresselia's eyes flashed and a blue glow surrounded Hippowdon. With her psychic power, Cresselia pulled Hippowdon from her body and threw it onto its back. Bertha quickly recalled her pokemon, though Hippowdon was clearly still moving after it landed and trying to roll.

"My Hippowdon would have been quite vulnerable like that," Bertha said after she recalled it. She placed Hippowdon's pokeball back in the holder, still ready to battle at a later time, then took another pokeball in her hand and aimed over the battlefield. "Gliscor, continue the fight!" she called out as she released her pokemon. A bat-like pokemon with a stinger-tipped tail appeared high over the ground, wings spread to keep it aloft.

"Your Cresselia is quite threatening to some of my pokemon with that Grass Knot attack, but Gliscor shall deal with it decisively," Bertha said to Dawn. "Gliscor, Night Slash!" Gliscor angled its body to dive down toward Cresselia, gliding in for the attack. Once it was closer it altered its angle further for a quick burst of speed, slicing down the side of Cresselia's body from head to tail in an angle. It scored a powerful blow and even managed to bypass Cresselia's Reflect, causing her to cry out in immense pain. Fortunately, Cresselia was a very hardy pokemon and was still standing after enduring the attack.

"We've got something for this one, too! Cresselia, use Aurora Beam!" Shaking off the attack, Cresselia turned to Gliscor and fired a rainbow-colored beam at it from behind. Gliscor cried out in pain, feeling an incredible chill from the strange beam. The force of the beam striking it knocked it into the ground.

"Perhaps I was mistaken. Gliscor, return for now," Bertha said, recalling Gliscor so it could conserve its strength for another of Dawn's pokemon. She then prepared to send out her final pokemon. Seeing that Dawn's pokemon had an ice-type attack and was very bulky, she realized it would come down to this pokemon even if Gliscor scored another blow. Only a lucky blow from Night Slash would have finished Cresselia, but a more powerful attack...

"Rhyperior, I'm counting on you to end this one!" Bertha held out her pokeball toward the field and released Rhyperior, an evolved, and more heavily armored form of rhydon. The rock pokemon let out a low, menacing growl as it emerged onto the field.

"Ground and rock..." Dawn smirked. "Cresselia, use Grass Knot!" Cresselia focused and a green glow surrounded her body, causing several vines to sprout from the ground near Rhyperior. The vines wrapped around Rhyperior's body and pulled it down hard, using its weight against it to cause significant damage. The Rhyperior groaned in pain and was briefly stunned by the attack. Even with a sandstorm and a powerful ability in its favor, a grass-type attack was hard for Rhyperior to endure.

"Rhyperior, use Megahorn!" At its trainer's command, Rhyperior summoned its strength and rose up, snapping the vines that had held it down. Rhyperior then lowered its horn and charged across the battlefield. A sickly green glow surrounded its horn as it closed the distance. Rhyperior rammed that horn into the front of Cresselia's body, causing her to cry in pain and fall back. Her body shimmered as her Reflect finally wore off, the barrier dispersing, but by then it didn't matter. Cresselia's body hit the ground hard, finally rendered unconscious.

"A bug-type attack," Dawn muttered. "For a ground-type trainer, you're awfully well prepared for a psychic-type pokemon. If it wasn't for that Reflect then Cresselia wouldn't even have lasted this long!" Dawn said to Bertha as she recalled Cresselia.

"Merely coincidence, dear," Bertha said, quietly chuckling to herself.

"Well, I guess my next pokemon will just have to pick up from where Cresselia left off!" Dawn said as she took another pokeball in her hand. "Bowser, you're on now! Go!" she called out, holding out her pokeball and releasing Bowser onto the battlefield. Bertha's Rhyperior growled at the new arrival and glared at him, but Bowser merely snorted derisively in response.

Bertha stroked her chin thoughtfully. "A torterra. And an impressive-looking one at that... how interesting. We can handle this, however. Rhyperior, use Avalanche."

"Bowser, use Leech Seed!" Dawn called out. She knew how the Avalanche technique worked. If she used an offensive technique, it would get more powerful.

Instead of launching an offensive attack, Bowser fired a seed from the tree on his back instead. The seed landed on Rhyperior's head and sprouted vines to latch on. Rhyperior, meanwhile, was slowly charging toward Bowser. It was gaining speed and snow and ice was starting to build around it. However, without having to endure an attack, it would never reach its full potential. Rhyperior rammed into Bowser, causing him to groan in pain and stagger back. He was easily able to endure the hit, though, and quickly shook it off.

"Bowser, attack Rhyperior with Giga Drain!" Bowser focused on Rhyperior and began drawing power from it. Rhyperior growled and clutched its chest in pain as a large burst of small, green orbs flowed out of its body and into Bowser. After the last orb left Rhyperior's body, it suddenly collapsed. Bertha was quick to recall her Rhyperior, as if she had been expecting this.

"This will be a difficult opponent indeed after the damage your Cresselia has caused to my pokemon," Bertha said to Dawn while she selected another pokeball. "I must take notes on this, but I will not back down." Bertha lifted a pokeball from the holder and held it out toward the field, pressing the button. The pokeball opened and Gliscor popped out, then glided down to the field below.

"My Gliscor shall be your next opponent, child," Bertha said. "Gliscor, attack her torterra with Ice Fang!" Gliscor hopped up into the air again and glided toward Bowser. Its mouth hung open and ice formed around its teeth.

"Bowser, shell and... uh... Leaf Storm!" Dawn called out, hoping to end Gliscor with a more powerful attack than the usual Seed Bomb she used for the technique. Bowser angled his shell to block the incoming Gliscor, whose icy fangs clamped onto the hardest part of Bowser's body. Then, every leaf from the tree on Bowser's back flew toward Gliscor in a swirling mass. Gliscor was engulfed entirely in the swarm of leaves, which also slightly grazed Bowser's shell as well. Gliscor's grip weakened and it soon dropped to the ground, unable to endure the barrage.

"A powerful technique indeed," Bertha commented as she recalled her fallen pokemon. She then retrieved her final pokeball. "Then I suppose this is it. If it had not already been weakened so, my Hippowdon would have easily scored victory against your torterra."

_Honestly, if I wasn't so sure Bowser could take this one in one move, I wouldn't have used Leaf Storm on her Gliscor anyway,_ Dawn thought as Bertha moved to release her final pokemon. The black Hippowdon emerged onto the field, already breathing heavily due to exhaustion.

"Hippowdon, go all out! Fissure!"

"Like we'll just sit here and let you! Bowser, Frenzy Plant!"

Hippowdon reared up on its hind legs and slammed the ground hard, sending out a shockwave throughout the battlefield. Rather than the usual quaking, this attack was much more focused and instead caused the ground to start to split under Bowser's feet. By that point, Bowser had already extended a pair of thick roots into the ground, worming their way through the battlefield toward Bertha's Hippowdon.

"This... this might be closer than I thought..." Dawn mumbled nervously as she watched that fissure under Bowser grow wider and wider. Bowser was completely calm, however. His roots emerged from the ground under Hippowdon and wrapped around it as they rose up, lifting Hippowdon off its feet and squeezing around it with incredible force. Meanwhile, the fissure under Bowser's feet opened enough for Bowser to finally fall into it. However, he didn't. Instead, he remained suspended in the air, held up by the same roots he was attacking Hippowdon with. Dawn let out a sigh of relief.

"-And here I thought Dawn had planned for it to end this way,-" Bowser said to himself, realizing Dawn didn't intend to counter Fissure with Frenzy Plant. That was the end result regardless, though. Hippowdon was now unconscious, knocked out by the crushing force of Bowser's Frenzy Plant, while Bowser was suspended in the air over a large crack by those same roots. With Hippowdon's defeat, the sandstorm covering the field finally ended.

"Well, well, well! You're quite something, youngster!" Bertha said to Dawn. She held out Hippowdon's pokeball to recall her, then gathered up her remaining pokeballs. A wide grin spread across her lips and Bertha chuckled quietly. "Ahaha! Even though I lost, I find myself with this silly grin!"

"Umm, thanks?" Dawn replied. The woman's grin was a bit off-putting. Remembering Bowser's predicament, Dawn quickly held out his pokeball and recalled him so he could finally relax.

"I must warn you, your next opponent is much more formidable," Bertha said to Dawn, then chuckled to herself again. "However, I think you can go as far as you desire. Perhaps you'll give Cynthia a run for her money!" Bertha then turned and started to walk away. Dawn let out a frustrated sigh.

"I won my first two matches, but now I definitely need to heal up a few," she said to herself. Dawn then turned and ran back toward the entry corridor to prepare for her next match.

* * *

Author's Notes: Delayed update again because of issues with . Sigh. Can't be helped I guess.

Well, that's the first Elite Four chapter out of the way. Funny how Aaron ended up being the tougher of the two opponents. Though, Bertha DID defeat a legendary pokemon.

Anyway, not much to say for now, though that might change next week.


	69. Chapter 67 Pt2: Sinnoh League

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 67**

**Sinnoh League Part 2**

"Dawn didn't do so well in that first match," Ashley noted grimly to the other three girls seated with her. "Even if he's an Elite Four, a bug trainer is a bug trainer. She should have been using Aerial Ace from the start when she realized what she was up against. Her staraptor would have beaten Aaron's yanmega easily, then her garchomp could take on Aaron's scizor, and one of her pokemon could weaken his vespiquen for her rapidash to finish."

"You sound like you're pretty knowledgeable of Sinnoh's pokemon," Rina said to Ashley, noticing that she seemed to know the proper species names for each. Ashley wordlessly responded by raising her camera and waving it at her.

"And what about that ground-type Elite Four? She shouldn't have lost a legendary pokemon fighting her!" May complained as she folded her arms in a huff. "Between that legendary pokemon's attacks and her grass pokemon, Dawn should have had Bertha beat! Most ground-type pokemon are really easy to deal with."

"And I suppose you two had an easier time when you faced your respective elites?" Melany asked May and Ashley with a raised eyebrow. Melany had never actually watched May's matches against the Hoenn Elite Four, and Rina had been a little tied up at the time when Ashley was challenging Kanto's Elite Four. Neither trainer had a good idea of what kind of challenges May and Ashley faced. And compared to Dawn, they had it easy.

"I wouldn't say I had an easy time, but it's a bad sign if she's losing so many pokemon in these early matches," Ashley said. "The Elite Four will only get tougher as she goes on."

"Yeah! Just wait until she gets to the dragon trainer!" May said.

"There isn't one," the rest of the girls replied simultaneously. May blinked in disbelief and then slumped back in her seat.

"Well if I was going to use one type it'd be dragon..." May mumbled dejectedly, then looked over at Melany. "Not even the champion?"

"The champion actually seems to use a mix of pokemon types," Melany replied. "Dawn will really have her work cut out for her against Cynthia. That's going to be one heck of a match..."

"She's back!" Rina said, pointing excitedly toward where Dawn was re-entering the arena. "The third match should be starting soon now!"

* * *

"Ha... my pokemon too way too much damage in those first two battles," Dawn mumbled as she made her way up the trainer's platform. "I'll really need to keep my guard up if I'm going to beat the next two Elite Four."

"Yo! Hotshot!" a voice called out from the other side of the field. Dawn looked up and saw Flint standing atop the opposite platform, already waiting for her. He was waving to her and had a huge grin on his face. "You had me counting the hours until I could finally face you! After the way you managed to light a fire in Volkner's heart again, how could I not look forward to facing you!"

Volkner, having been seated in the audience stands, suddenly got up and yelled, "Hey, man! You're embarassing me, here!"

"Oh yeah!" Flint called back, still wearing that huge grin on his face. "Well you better look away! Seeing how far I'm going to push her compared to you is just going to make it worse, hotshot!"

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that!" Volkner yelled, then finally sat back down. By now, all the other gym leaders were staring at him in bewilderment.

"R-right..." Dawn muttered under her breath. She quietly placed two pokeballs in the holder before her, keeping one in her hand for the battle. "Well if you're that eager to battle me we should get started right away, shouldn't we?" she then called out to Flint.

"Hell yeah!" Flint replied, eagerly holding out a pokeball he already had tightly gripped in his hand. "Don't wanna delay this any longer! Let's call 'em out! Houndoom, you're up first!" The pokeball in Flint's hand opened and released a pokemon that didn't look like it had any business being used by anyone who didn't have evil intentions. Black fur, bone-like ornaments on its ankles, back, and neck, devillish tail, and a pair of sharp, curved horns on its head. It looked like the perfect pokemon to be guarding the resting place of damned souls.

_Couldn't he have chosen a nicer pokemon?_ Dawn wondered. She quickly shook her head and then held out the pokeball she was holding. "Bridget, this one's all your's then! Go!" she called out, releasing a pink, feminine-looking rabbit pokemon onto the field. Bridget took one look at his opponent and blinked in disbelief.

"-Whoa! What an evil-looking guy!-" Bridget said, then grinned. "-Perfect pokemon for a hero like me to beat down, then!-"

"Now there's an interesting pokemon!" Flint when he saw Bridget. "Well, we won't hold anything back! Houndoom, let's get this fire started! Sunny Day!" Houndoom's body began to glow, radiating light and heat. It then raised its head and howled at the sky. The light and heat was released in a burst that fired straight up toward the roof and spread out, bathing the battlefield with intense sunlight.

"Bridget, use Agility and then attack with Jump Kick!" Bridget closed his eyes and focused, relaxing his body. Then, with his muscles relaxed, Bridget charged forward and leapt high into the air. On the descent he positioned himself to come down foot-first toward Houndoom.

"Houndoom, catch it with Bite and throw it aside!" Houndoom readied itself, watching Bridget intently as he came down toward it. At the last second, Houndoom made a short hop back to avoid taking the hit to the head, like Bridget had been intending. It then managed to grab Bridget's foot with incredibly precise timing, biting down hard and then casually tossing Bridget aside.

"Good going, boy! Now, let's really kick this up! Nasty Plot!" Houndoom focused its gaze on Bridget and growled. In its head, Houndoom was thinking up all sorts of nasty schemes to use against Bridget. The intense contemplation gave it a brief but powerful boost to special-based attacks.

If that thing attacks now, Bridget won't be able to pull off a Mirror Coat on it. I bet that was Flint's intent, Dawn thought. "Bridget, use Jump Kick again!" Bridget quickly rolled back onto his feet and quickly hopped up into the air. This time, Houndoom wasn't at all ready for the attack. Bridget came crashing down toward it, delivering a powerful drop kick to the side of Houndoom's face. Houndoom growled and staggered off to the side, but then shook its head and quickly regained its composure.

"Nice effort, hotshot, but it's all over now!" Flint said to Dawn. "Houndoom, end this! Flamethrower!"

"Endure it, Bridget!" Dawn called out quickly. Bridget crossed his arms and braced himself as Houndoom opened its mouth and released a blast of incredibly hot flames that burned brightly as they engulfed Bridget and seared his body. However, in spite of the intensity of the flames, Bridget was still standing when they died down. But just barely.

"Good job, Bridget! Now WE'LL finish this! With Return!" Summoning his remaining strength, Bridget dashed forward. Quickly closing the distance between himself and Houndoom, Bridget then unleashed a flurry of blows, punching the Houndoom repeatedly with his ears. Houndoom grimaced, enduring the barrage until one final punch to the face knocked it off its feet. Houndoom went down and it stayed down.

"Close, but it looks like it was my pokemon that burnt out in the end," Flint said regretfully as he recalled his Houndoom. In one quick motion he then swapped pokeballs. "But don't think for a second that we're losing steam! Infernape, hop to it!" Flint aimed his pokeball toward the field and released it, sending out a fighting monkey pokemon with flaming hair.

"Bridget, time to take a break! Baton Pass!"

"Wrong move! Infernape, Mach Punch!"

Bridget held out one hand and focused. A red aura began to gather in his hand, taking the form of a baton. Once it had completed, Bridget tossed the baton straight up into the air and waited to be recalled by Dawn. Unfortunately for Bridget, that wouldn't happen. Almost immediately after tossing the baton, Infernape's hand smashed into the side of his face at mach speeds. Bridget dropped almost instantly, causing the baton he had formed to disperse.

Dawn let out a sigh as she recalled Bridget. "That didn't work out so well," she said to herself. Dawn then thought over her remaining two pokemon choices for a moment before taking one of the pokeballs in her hand. "Guess now is as good a time as any to use this one!"

Dawn gripped the pokeball tightly and pointed it toward the field, releasing her pokemon and calling out its name. "Cresselia!" she yelled as the pokeball opened. A red beam fired out and materialized into the crescent moon pokemon, Cresselia.

"Pulling out the legendary pokemon, huh?" Flint asked with a grin. "Well I can't say I wasn't hoping you would! Infernape, let's test our strength against that thing! Flare Blitz!"

"Cresselia, endure it and use Moonlight!" Enveloping its body in flames, Flint's Infernape charged across the battlefield on all fours and threw itself into Cresselia. With the heat of the flames intensified by the sun's rays, it dealt a powerful blow. It was nothing that Cresselia couldn't endure, however. After shaking off the hit she then began drawing light into her body, gaining an incredible boost in doing so from the artificial sun that was still in play. All the damage that had been inflicted on her by Infernape's attack was instantly healed, leaving only Infernape still recoiling from the attack.

"Dang, that thing's going to be a pain while Sunny Day is still in effect," Flint said, then chuckled to himself. "Well, what do you say you sit this one out, then, Infernape?" Flint asked his pokemon. Infernape scowled but didn't respond. Since Infernape offered no resistance, though, Flint recalled him and swapped pokeballs.

"You'll find this one interesting I bet! Magmortar! You're up now!" Flint aimed the pokeball he was now holding at the field and released his pokemon, sending out a bulky, rotund-looking pokemon with a red and yellow flame motif on its body. Upon emerging onto the field the Magmortar pointed one hand at Cresselia and retracted it, revealing an arm cannon instead.

_I feel like I've seen this pokemon in my games before,_ Dawn thought to herself.

Seeing that the artificial sunlight was now fading, Flint realized immediately what his first course of action should be. "Magmortar, turn up the heat! Sunny Day!" Flint called out. Magmortar immediately raised its arm into the air and launched a bright glowing ball. The ball rose up and then exploded over the battlefield, bathing it in a renewed artificial heat and light. With Sunny Day in effect, Flint had hoped to overcome Cresselia's defenses with sheer firepower.

"Cresselia, counter with Light Screen!" Dawn, however, wasn't about to let Flint go through with those plans. At Dawn's command, Cresselia's eyes flashed and a wall of light formed around her body, weakening any non-physical attacks that Magmortar would throw at her. However, in spite of this seemingly perfect counter, Flint remained undeterred.

"Now it's time to set our plan in motion! Magmortar, Lava Plume! Rapid Fire!" Magmortar raised its arm cannon into the air and then thrust it into the ground hard, embedding it a few inches into the soil. Magmortar then released an intensely hot blast of flames into the ground. Shortly after, the ground under Cresselia burst open and a plume of fire and molten rock burst up to strike Cresselia from below.

Cresselia cried out in pain at the initial blow but was able to avoid taking too much damage by floating back out of the line of fire. Magmortar wasn't about to let up, however. The fire and molten rock receded but then another plume erupted from under Cresselia's new location. The psychic-type legendary cried out in pain as she was struck again but was still able to move out of the line of fire shortly after.

Dawn blinked in confusion. So far as she could tell, Flint's plan of attack favored her entirely. _He must be trying to do something. Burn Cresselia, maybe?_ After thinking it over for a moment, Dawn shook her head and returned her focus to battling. "Cresselia, time to go on the offensive! Psychic!"

Another plume of fire and molten rock erupted under Cresselia, searing the underside of her body. Cresselia winced in pain and tried to ignored the pain so she could focus on the attack. After a moment she was able to slide to the side enough to get out of the attack. Her eyes flashed and a blue glow briefly surrounded Magmortar, thrusting it back and pulling its cannon free from the ground.

_I've let him attack too much,_ Dawn thought, seeing that Cresselia took another hit while attacking. She could tell by feeling Cresselia's aura that Cresselia could still take a fair bit more damage, but was still starting to weaken. "Cresselia, Moonlight!" she called out. Cresselia quickly drew in light from the fake sun, instantly restoring her to full strength. Cresselia was still in pain, however, and it was then that Dawn noticed a burn on the underside of Cresselia's body.

Seeing the burn himself, Flint smirked. "Magmortar, time to switch tactics! Thunder Punch!" Magmortar grinned as it stood up. It raised its hand into the air, gathering electricity around it. Magmortar then charged across the battlefield and slammed its electrified fist into Cresselia. Cresselia winced slightly from the blow but endured it fairly easily.

"We can handle physical attacks just fine! Cresselia, Reflect!" Shaking off the relatively light hit, Cresselia focused and her eyes flashed. Her body then shimmered as a blue, transparent barrier formed around it. As she did, though, the wall of light surrounding her faded as did the artificial sunlight above the gym. This was just the moment Flint was waiting for.

"Magmortar, now's your chance! Fire Blast!" Flint called out. Magmortar stepped back and took aim at Cresselia with its arm cannon. A fireball quickly formed within and Magmortar launched it at her. The fireball grew as it closed the distance between them with several lengths of flames extending out of it. Cresselia cried out in pain when the flames collided with her, searing her body as they pushed her back and then finally exploded in a fiery burst. Thanks to the burn, Cresselia was rather noticeably weakened by this point and was panting heavily.

_He timed that perfectly!_ Dawn thought, realizing now that she had been playing into Flint's hand the entire time. Thanks to the burn inflicted by his constant Lava Plume attacks, Magmortar was now able to deal enough damage without a Sunny Day boost that, combined with the burn, Cresselia couldn't heal fast enough. To make things worse, setting up a Light Screen again would only give Magmortar a chance to finish the job.

_Looks like it's offense or nothing!_ she thought. "Cresselia, use Psychic!" Cresselia's eyes flashed and a blue glow surrounded Magmortar. The fire-type pokemon was suddenly flung back through the air and hit the ground hard. It recovered surprisingly quickly, however, jumping back up onto its feet within seconds.

"Magmortar, one Flamethrower will finish this now! Do it!" Determining that it was still in range, Magmortar pointed its arm cannon at Cresselia and released a blast of flames at her. Cresselia cried out in pain as the flames engulfed her lower body. She tried to move out of the way but Magmortar was able to follow her movements easily. Magmortar was soon running out of fire, though, and it seemed like Cresselia might survive the attack. But at the last second she fainted and dropped to the ground.

Dawn sighed. "And we were doing so well," she said in dismay as she recalled Cresselia. Two pokemon down on her side, but Dawn wasn't worried. Taking her last pokeball from the holder, Dawn held it out toward the field and pressed the button. "Bahamut, I'm counting on you now! Get out there and finish this!" A red beam fired out onto the field and materialized into Bahamut. Bahamut was already moving to cross his arms before he even fully emerged, then spread them out dramatically and let out a roar when he had.

"-Finish this! This will be over before they even know what hit them!-" Bahamut boldly declared.

"Bahamut, finish this one off with an Earthquake!" Dawn called out. Even though it was only finishing a battle that had already been started, Bahamut was all too happy to comply. He stomped the ground, sending a shockwave throughout the battlefield. The shockwave knocked Magmortar off its feet, leaving it exposed to the cracking and shaking of the ground that it now rest on. Magmortar was bounced around on the shifting earth and ended up getting knocked out fairly quickly. Flint was recalling his pokemon before the attack had even finished.

"Looks like it's coming down to my last pokemon, too!" Flint said with a grin as he took his final pokeball in hand, returning Magmortar's pokeball to his belt. "It's been a great battle, hot shot, so let's put everything into this finish! Infernape, get out there!" The pokeball in Flint's hand opened and released Infernape onto the field.

"Bahamut, same deal! Earthquake!"

"Jump it and use Close Combat, Infernape!"

Bahamut slammed his foot into the ground again, sending out another shockwave that shook and cracked the ground. Infernape ran toward the shockwave but, unlike what Flint had commanded, it didn't quite jump the Earthquake. Instead, Infernape performed a number of hops, flips, and sommersaults to avoid the cracking ground as much as it could. However, it screwed up near the end as he did a handstand on cracking ground and was knocked over.

Infernape only briefly had to endure being tossed around and hammered by rising chunks of the ground, having avoided most of the attack. Infernape was on its feet quickly after the attack and charged toward Bahamut, closing the remaining distance. Infernape launched a flurry of furious punches and kicks, getting up in the dragon pokemon's face and jumping around it. In spite of this, Dawn could only smirk.

"Bahamut, I'm sure you know how to end this yourself," Dawn said to her pokemon. "Hit hit double time and show it why getting too close to a dragon is a bad idea!"

"-OF COURSE!-" Bahamut yelled in response, seemingly ignoring the flurry of attacks pelting its body from almost every direction. Crossing his arms, the claws on his hands seemed to extend as an orange glow surrounded them.

"-You came too close to me without thinking!-" Bahamut said to the Infernape. Annoyed, Infernape jumped back around to the front of Bahamut to continue the assault. But Bahamut surprised it by kneeling down and lowering his hands to the ground.

"-**EAT THIS! DOUBLE! RISING!**" Bahamut rose up, slashing both sets of claws across the front of Infernape's body with a cry of, "-**DRAGON CLAW!**-" Infernape was flung back by the attack and thrown to the ground. It remained there, completely unmoving, while Bahamut finally seemed to take notice of the damage inflicted on him and collapsed to his knees.

"Heh... so much for that..." Flint said quietly, recalling his Infernape. He breathed deep and wiped a few beads of sweat from his forehead. "Phew... burnt down to cinders..." Without another word, Flint turned around and slowly walked away from the battlefield.

"Huh. Would have thought he'd have something to say," Dawn said, then shrugged. "Well, good job Bahamut. You can rest now." Dawn held out Bahamut's pokeball and recalled him, then placed his pokeball back on her belt. Dawn then took three pokeballs from her belt to put them in the pokeball holder. Again she wouldn't be healing any of her pokemon between matches as she had decided her other three pokemon were good enough. With the pokeballs set she now merely had to wait for Lucian.

She didn't have to wait long.

"Your timing in defeating Flint was excellent," the purple haired man said as he emerged from a corridor on the opposite side of the arena. "I had just finished reading an interesting book, you see." Lucian stepped up to the trainer's platform and took two pokeballs in one hand and one in the other, placing the two pokeballs in the holder on his platform.

"I guess that was pretty convenient then," Dawn said to Lucian as she took one of her pokeballs from the holder.

"Indeed it was," Lucian replied, then smiled knowingly. "As you may already know, they say I am the most powerful of the Elite Four. I'm afraid I will have to go all out against you to live up to that reputation."

"That's fine by me!" Dawn replied. Gripping her pokeball tightly, she pointed it out toward the field. "Bowser, you're up first this time! Go!" she called out, releasing Bowser onto the battlefield. Bowser grunted and observed the battlefield conditions curiously, noting the rough terrain caused by the previous match, then noted his opponent.

"Mr. Mime, you will be first on my side," Lucian said quietly as he held out his own pokeball and pressed the button. A red beam fired out and materialized into a human shaped, clown-like pokemon. The pokemon was making odd, seemingly random gestures with its hands when it appeared. Neither Dawn nor Bowser could decipher what they meant.

_A Mr. Mime, huh? I bet it'll start by boosting its defense,_ Dawn thought. "Bowser, start by boosting your power with Curse!" Bowser nodded and a dark aura surrounded its body. Cursed energies flowed through him, slowing down his bodily functions while increasing his physical strength and endurance.

"Hmm. Mr. Mime, set up Reflect," Lucian quietly commanded his pokemon. Mr. Mime moved his hands around like he was stuck in an invisible box. A transparent blue barrier then formed around him to protect him from physical attacks.

"Now use Encore, Mr. Mime," Lucian instructed his pokemon next. Mr. Mime clapped his hands, causing a burst of applause throughout the arena. Urged on by the applause, Bowser used Curse again and a dark aura descended upon him.

"Bowser, that's enough for now! Return!" Dawn called out, holding out Bowser's pokeball and recalling him. She didn't want to keep Bowser in the battle while he was under the effects of Encore. Taking another pokeball from the holder, Dawn then prepared to release Bowser's replacement. "Axel, this one's your's! Go!" she called out, releasing the rapidash with the golden flames onto the battlefield. Lucian studied the newcomer and considered Dawn's potential strategies.

"Interesting... Mr. Mime, set up a Light Screen," Lucian commanded. Again Mr. Mime made motions with his hands like he was trying to find a way out of an invisible box. This time the act caused a wall of light to form around him.

"That won't help! Axel, use Megahorn!" Axel lowered his head and charged across the field as a sickly green glow began to surround his horn. Mr. Mime made no attempt to avoid Axel's attack or stop him, taking the impact head on. Axel's horn dug into Mr. Mime's chest. Mr. Mime seemingly cried out in pain, though no scream could be heard. Instead he staggered back, flailing his arms, but then quickly shook it off. The attack had much less of an effect than Dawn was expecting, even with Reflect active.

"As you can no doubt tell, my pokemon is well protected," Lucian said to Dawn. "Now, Mr. Mime, toss that rapidash away with a Psychic attack."

"Axel, quick! Bounce!"

Mr. Mime's eyes flashed blue and he thrust his hands toward where Axel had been standing, only to find Axel wasn't standing there anymore. Mr. Mime tilted his head to the side, momentarily confused until Axel suddenly landed on top of him. While Mr. Mime was easily able to endure the crushing force of the horse pokemon landing on it and flattening it to the ground, the attack still had an effect on Mr. Mime. When he tried to get back up after Axel moved off he ended up falling back again as paralysis suddenly kicked in.

"Seems like his Mr. Mime is somehow resistant to attacks it'd normally be weak to..." Dawn quietly noted. She then noticed a shimmer around Mr. Mime's body as its Reflect wore off. "Okay then! Time to get fired up! Axel, attack with Flare Blitz!"

Axel distanced himself from Mr. Mime slightly as the psychic-type pokemon was getting back onto his feet. Wreathing his body in flames, Axel charged at Mr. Mime at full speed, smashing into the psychic pokemon in a fiery collision that knocked it off its feet again. The attack dealt a powerful blow to Mr. Mime, though this time it was a bit quicker to get back on its feet.

"This won't do at all. My Mr. Mime is done for," Lucian noted calmly. "Let's make one final attack, Mr. Mime. Psychic." Mr. Mime turned around to face the fiery pokemon that now stood behind him. His eyes flashed and he thrust out his hands, sending a powerful psychic thrust at Axel that threw him off his feet. Axel grunted in pain as he was thrown to the ground. Axel was starting to feel the pressure now and was slow to get back on his feet, but Mr. Mime was in even worse shape and breathing heavily.

"Axel, let's finish this! Megahorn!" Turning to face Mr. Mime, Axel lowered his head and charged at the pokemon again. Mr. Mime had much less protection now that his Reflect had worn off. He let out a silent cry of pain again as Axel's horn, now bearing a sickly green glow, plowed into him. Mr. Mime was thrown back and collapsed almost instantly.

"No matter," Lucian said calmly as he recalled his Mr. Mime. He didn't seem at all bothered by the loss and quickly took another pokeball from the holder. "Bronzong, this is your battle now," he then said as he released his next pokemon. The pokeball in Lucian's hand opened and a floating, steel bell with arms appeared over the field.

"Axel, that's enough for now! Return!" Dawn called out, recalling Axel even though it seemed like he would have a type advantage against this pokemon. Instead, knowing how defensive a bronzong was, Dawn decided to try a different tactic and took Bowser's pokeball in her hand again. "Bowser, I choose you again!" she called out, releasing Bowser back onto the field.

"Bowser, start off with Leech Seed!" Dawn quickly commanded. It was one attack she knew she could rely on in this situation. A seed was launched from the tree on Bowser's back and flew across the field to land on Bronzong. There, the seed sprouted vines and latched onto the steel pokemon's body.

Lucian furrowed his brow. "Hmm... now what should I do..." he muttered quietly. "Well, let's go with Hypnosis." Bronzong's eyes flashed and it began releasing hypnotic energy waves at Bowser. From Bowser's perspective, Bronzong's eyes appeared to be swirling. He began to feel drowsy and was soon fast asleep.

"Geez... this is getting annoying..." Dawn muttered as she took Bowser's pokeball in her hand and recalled him. She put Bowser's pokeball back in the holder and took another one in her hand. "Captain Falcon, your turn now! Go!" she called out, releasing the bird pokemon onto the field. Dawn silently hoped Captain Falcon would have better luck than Bowser, who had yet to remain in a battle.

"Hmm. I believe I shall switch too, then," Lucian said, then held out Bronzong's pokeball. "Bronzong, let's recall you and get rid of that nasty seed," he said to his pokemon. The pokeball opened and drew Bronzong inside. Lucian then quickly swapped for his only other remaining pokemon.

"Gallade, your turn now." Lucian aimed the pokeball at the field and pressed the button, releasing his pokemon. A red beam fired out and materialized into a white and green pokemon with almost swordlike arms. The pokemon took a few stabs at the air before sliding into a fighting stance.

"Gallade, attack her pokemon with Stone Edge."

"Captain Falcon, use Quick Attack to dodge and get in close!"

Gallade closed his eyes and focused his power, then punched the ground. A giant rock spike shot up out of the ground from under Captain Falcon, but the bird pokemon shot forward in a blur of movement to avoid the attack. Almost instantly she was able to close the distance between herself and Gallade, leaving only a few feet between them now.

"Good! Now, follow up with Wing Attack!" Quickly closing the remaining distance, Captain Falcon dropped toward Gallade and thwacked him hard in the face with his wing. Gallade was caught completely off guard and was knocked off his feet while Captain Falcon landed gracefully just behind him. Gallade then disappeared as it was recalled by Lucian.

"That didn't go as planned," he said calmly, then took another pokeball in his hand. "Bronzong will handle this." The pokeball opened, releasing the floating, steel bell pokemon back onto the field.

"That one again..." Dawn muttered. "Okay, Captain Falcon, let's hit this one hard with Close Combat!" Captain Falcon quickly flew up to confront the bell pokemon at Dawn's request and immediately began launching a flurry of attacks. Bronzong's body rang with each wing and claw that struck it one after another. It was a desparate, furious assault that left Captain Falcon open to attack.

"Bronzong, Gyro Ball should do," Lucian declared. While still under assault from Captain Falcon, Bronzong began spinning. Slowly at first, but picking up speed rapidly until it finally smashed into Captain Falcon. Bronzong continued to spin, grinding its body against Captain Falcon while pushing her back across the field. By the time it stopped, Captain Falcon's had been knocked out and her unconscious form fell to the ground.

"Should have switched, but I think we scored a pretty good hit on that thing at least," Dawn said to herself as she recalled Captain Falcon. She put Captain Falcon's pokeball back on her belt and then grabbed a pokeball from the holder. "Alright, here goes nothing! Bowser, I choose you!" she called out, releasing Bowser back onto the battlefield. The tortoise pokemon was fast asleep when it emerged, still suffering from the Hypnosis from earlier.

"Hmm..." Lucian considered his options for defeating Dawn's remaining pokemon for a moment. "Bronzong... I think that's good enough for now, you may return," he said, recalling his Bronzong with one hand. Taking a pokeball in the other, he released Gallade back onto the field.

"Gallade, use Swords Dance," Lucian quickly instructed his pokemon. Gallade closed his eyes and crossed his arms, drawing out an inner power that caused a blue, sword-shaped aura to form around him.

_This is going to be tricky,_ Dawn thought, noticing Bowser was just now starting to stir. _Luckily, Bowser hasn't taken a hit yet. So just maybe..._

"Gallade, now! Unleash all of your power in Close Combat!"

"Bowser, now's your chance! Strike back with Wood Hammer!"

Gallade was the first to move, charging across the battlefield just as Bowser was beginning to wake up. He was beginning to move, but his eyes had yet to even open when Gallade suddenly started launching a flurry of punches at point-blank range. The punches had woken him up completely, but now he was pinned down under a powerful assault. Each punch felt like he had been hit by a truck.

But even pinned like this, Bowser still wasn't out. Bowser summoned his strength and endured the punches for as long as he could. Then, when he was finally ready, Bowser threw himself into Gallade as hard as he could. This caught Gallade off guard, knocking him off his feet and ending up with him pinned under Bowser as the grass pokemon continued moving forward. Realizing this, Bowser hopped up as best he could and tucked his legs to do a belly flop onto Gallade. When Bowser got up again and moved off of him, Gallade was completely unconscious.

Bowser hadn't escaped the attack unharmed, however. Throwing himself at Gallade in such a way dealt some damage to himself in return. Combined with Gallade's Close Combat attack, it was enough to trigger Bowser's Overgrow ability. A green glow surrounded him briefly and more leaves grew from the tree on his back.

"Well played," Lucian said to Dawn, recalling his fallen Gallade and then taking his final pokeball in hand. "This is it, then. My final pokemon." The pokeball in Lucian's hand opened, releasing Bronzong back onto the field for yet another bout.

"Let's finish this one, too!" Dawn called out eagerly, hoping to use the power boost to finish Bronzong off. "Leaf Storm!" Bowser let out a roar, releasing all the leaves from the tree on his back. The leaves began to swirl around and moved across the battlefield as a giant tornado of leaves. Bronzong became engulfed in this tornado and the leaves cut across its metallic body. But when the swirling leaves dispersed and dropped to the field below, Bronzong was still conscious. Barely, but it was still in the game.

"I'm afraid that won't be enough. Bronzong, Psychic." Bronzong's eyes flashed and a blue glow surrounded Bowser momentarily. A strong psychic force struck him, throwing Bowser onto his back and knocking him out instantly. Dawn quickly recalled him and took her final pokeball in hand.

"It always comes down to the last one!" Dawn said as she gripped her pokeball and pressed the button. "Axel! I'm counting on you! Go!" The pokeball in Dawn's hand opened, releasing Axel onto the battlefield. Axel snorted flames and scuffed his foot against the dirt. He was ready to take Bronzong down even in his weakened state.

"This time we'll definitely finish this! Axel, Fire Blast!" Axel opened his mouth and shot a small fireball. The fireball seemingly rolled through the air, growing in size as it soared across the field. Long, flaming appendages grew from the fireball before it finally collided with Bronzong. The flames colliding with Bronzong were more than it could take by now. The steel bell pokemon finally went down, dropping out of the air instantly. Lucian recalled it immediately after it hit the ground.

"That's it then," he said after recalling Bronzong and gathering up his pokeballs. "Congratulations, Dawn. You have beaten the Elite Four. However, that dosn't mean you're done with the pokemon league. The Champion of the Elite Four, Cynthia, still remains. You should take this time to prepare accordingly."

"Yeah, I need it..." Dawn said quietly as she recalled Axel. She then quickly turned and fled from the arena, retreating into the corridor. Lucian, recognizing that Dawn's team had suffered many losses and injuries, thought nothing of her haste and turned to leave himself.

_What am I going to do now!_ Dawn wondered as she entered the entrance corridor and opened her travel bag to root through her supplies. She was sure she was giving these battles all she had, but she was still taking heavy losses just trying to get through the Elite Four and was now running low on healing supplies in spite of what she had spent previously. She didn't have nearly enough revives to restore all of her fallen pokemon, and even then she was almost out of full restore.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, it was then that Dawn noticed a giftwrapped package lying nearby. Upon closer inspection, Dawn found the package was addressed to her and had a small note attached. After reading the note she quickly tore into the package and found several revives and full restores. She immediately set to work releasing her pokemon from the pokeballs and healing them as necessary.

The note that had been on the package simply stated, "It wouldn't be much fun for either of us if you weren't at full strength."

* * *

Author's Notes: I had considered the possibility of having Flint use a lopunny, which Bridget would fight, but in the end I decided I really couldn't justify having him be the only one to deviate from type.

Dawn running out of healing items and getting more from Cynthia was an idea I toyed with simply because it was something I could see Cynthia doing. She really wants this battle with Dawn and wants both to push Dawn to her limits while hoping for Dawn to do the same in return.

Dawn does seem to be having a rougher time with the Elite Four than anyone else, though, doesn't she? The battle between her and Cynthia is going to be close...


	70. Chapter 68: Sinnoh League Finale

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 68**

**Sinnoh League Finale**

"So how does it feel, professor, to watch two trainers who had worked under you facing off like this?" Lucas asked Professor Rowan. The professor stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Well, truthfully, I knew something like this would happen," he said to Lucas. Lucas looked at him in disbelief. Noticing this look, the professor chuckled. "It's quite true. Dawn wasn't the only trainer helping me out in my work, afterall. And all three of you showed a great deal of promise."

Lucas shrugged. "You had more confidence in them than I did, then."

"I'm surprised it isn't you down there to be honest, though I suppose you never did have much of an interest in collecting gym badges," the professor said, then looked down toward the field. "Ah, looks like it's about to start."

* * *

"I trust your pokemon are ready for this?" Cynthia asked Dawn from across the field. There was a sly smirk on her lips.

"As ready as they'll ever be," Dawn replied.

"Mt. Coronet... the other world... you faced many tough battles even before now and managed to come out on top. You've grown to become an incredibly powerful trainer in such a short time," Cynthia said to Dawn. "But you didn't come here to hear me say all that, so I won't prattle on any longer. Dawn, as the Sinnoh League Champion, I accept your challenge!" Cynthia then took a pokeball out of her coat pocket. "Let's begin! Spiritomb, I choose you!"

"Right!" Dawn said in agreement, taking a pokeball in her hand as well. "For the pokemon who helped me get this far, and the people who believed I could make it, I won't back down now! Bridget, I choose you!"

Both trainers, eager to get the battle underway, released their first pokemon. On Dawn's side of the field, the pink, male lopunny Bridget appeared and flexed his ears. He could feel the tension in the air and was getting pumped for the battle ahead. On Cynthia's side of the field a small, cracked rock appeared on the ground. A green and purple wisp of smoke then began to rise from the rock and the sound of disembodied laughter filled the air. The wips of smoke billowed swirled over the rock and formed into the grinning face of a spiritomb.

_A spiritomb! Cynthia trains something like THAT!_ Dawn thought in disbelief.

_Bridget. I wonder if she'll realize his Counter and Mirror Coat techniques won't work on Spiritomb?_ Cynthia thought, folding her arms across her chest.

"Bridget, start by bouncing up high and using Foresight!" Dawn called out. Bridget nodded in agreement and crouched down, building up pressure in his legs. He then released that pressure in one mighty leap straight up into the air where it would be relatively safe from Spiritomb's attacks. While in the air, Bridget focused on Spiritomb to identify it.

_Trying to delay my attack while setting up, is she?_ Cynthia thought with a smirk. "Spiritomb, set up with Nasty Plot." Not one to be outdone, Cynthia was taking the time to set up as well. Dark utterings were heard as all 108 evil spirits that made up Spiritomb began brainstorming, coming up with twisted means of attacking Bridget. The brainstorming session left Spiritomb with an increased mentalstate to power up its attacks.

"Not again..." Dawn grumbled.

When Bridget finally landed from his sky-high contemplation Dawn quickly called out an attack, hoping to get an early attack in on Cynthia's Spiritomb. "Bridget, use Jump Kick!"

Almost immediately Bridget was back in the air, using the momentum from his landing to make a powerful leap across the field and aim a flying kick at Spiritomb. Spiritomb was laughing as Bridget flew toward it but suddenly stopped when a flying drop kick landed directly on the crack in the keystone that formed its base. Spiritomb gasped sharply and seemed like it couldn't breathe all of a sudden, even though it hadn't been breathing at all before.

"That will be the only attack you make! Spiritomb, toss her pokemon back with Psychic!" Spiritomb's quickly shook off the blow and its eyes flashed. Bridget was then suddenly hurled back through the air as if struck by a powerful physical blow. He hit the ground hard and skidded back for several feet, where he was left lying still for a moment. The attack had hit him hard, knocking the wind out of him.

"Now, finish this with Dark Pulse!"

"Bridget, quick! Endure!"

Spiritomb's face began to spin, though somehow the eyes and mouth remained in place. The face itself seemed to become the attack as a swirling mass of black and purple fired out from it. Bridget was, by now, getting back on his feet and turning to face the incoming attack. He quickly braced himself as the mass of dark energy engulfed him and tried to hang on. Bridget fell to his knees when the attack finally passed. Barely hanging on, but still able to fight.

_Still got one shot at this!_ Dawn thought. "Bridget, get in there and hit Spiritomb with your strongest Return!" Gathering his strength, Bridget charged toward Spiritomb.

"-If I put everything into this attack... I can still win!-" Bridget cried out. As he finally reached Spiritomb he launched a flurry of powerful punches. The Spiritomb's face recoiled from each blow as Bridget's fists somehow managed to connect with the disembodied spirits. One final punch even managed to knock it over. Bridget fell to his knees again after delivering the final punch.

"Not bad, but this time it is over for sure," Cynthia said to Dawn. "Spiritomb, finish this with Psychic." Spiritomb stood itself up again, still very much in the fight in spite of Bridget's claim. Spiritomb's eyes then flashed an Bridget was thrown back. When he hit the ground he was completely knocked out.

"If it wasn't for that Nasty Plot we would have had this..." Dawn mumbled to herself as she recalled Bridget. Returning Bridget's pokeball to her belt, she quickly took another one in her hand without a moment's hesitation. She knew Cynthia's Spiritomb, while still standing, had to endure Bridget's strongest attack and a technique that it was weak to but normally wouldn't work at all. Dawn was confident that one powerful attack would end it now.

"Axel, you're up next! Go!" she called out, releasing Axel from his pokeball. As soon as the fiery horse pokemon appeared she called out an attack. "Axel, use Fire Blast and finish this now!"

Axel barely had time to figure out what was what but could be pretty sure the mass of evil spirits were the target. Axel opened his mouth and shot a fireball at Spiritomb. The fireball grew as it flew across the field and lengths of flame stretched out from the ball. When the flames finally reached Spiritomb they engulfed the pokemon's face entirely. The pokemon's agonized screams could be heard from within over the roar of the flames. After the fireball exploded, the spiritomb's face was gone. The spirits, weakened by the attack, retreated into the keystone when the pokemon fainted.

"Since my Spiritomb didn't weaken your rapidash any, that makes this practically an even trade off," Cynthia mused as she recalled her fainted pokemon. "Interesting. Let's see if you can keep it up." Cynthia then retrieved another pokeball from within her coat and pointed it toward the field. "Lucario, I choose you!" The pokeball opened and Cynthia's Lucario soon emerged onto the field.

_Lucario? But isn't that a steel-type?_ Dawn wondered in confusion. _I better watch it, Cynthia's definitely got a card or two up her sleeve if she's sending that pokemon out! _Worried about what Cynthia might do, Dawn decided to put off taking any sort of action. Both pokemon stared each other down, waiting for their trainer's orders but not receiving any.

Lucario didn't have to wait for long, however. "Not going to make a move?" Cynthia asked. "Then we'll make the first attack! Lucario, Earthquake!" Lucario closed its eyes and took a deep breath, summoning his strength. Lucario then stomped the ground to send a shockwave out toward Axel.

"I knew it!" Dawn muttered. "Axel, dodge it with Bounce!" Axel ran forward, seemingly running into the shockwave but then jumping into the air before reaching the quaking ground. Axel leaped high into the air aiming to land on Lucario, but at the same time he jumped so high that Lucario would have plenty of time to react.

"Lucario, knock it out of the air with Aura Sphere." Lucario cupped its hands and focused its aura, forming a ball of energy in its hands. Lucario then thrust its hands up toward Axel to fire the sphere at him. The energy ball immediately homed in on Axel and struck him from below, landing a relatively light blow that managed to push Axel back and throw him completely off course.

"Axel, Fire Spin! Aim at the ground under you!" Knowing Axel wouldn't hit his target now, Dawn was quick to come up with a plan to salvage the situation. Turning slightly in the air, Axel opened his mouth and breathed out a swirling blast of flames. The flames struck the ground and rose up as a flaming tornado. The flames were completely harmless to Axel as he fell through them. However, they were still drawn to him. The flaming tornado collapsed as he fell through and gathered around him. When Axel hit the ground he was completely engulfed in flames, barely visible in the wall of fire.

"Alright! Let's make this one count! Axel, Flare Blitz!" The flames surrounding Axel grew higher as he charged toward Lucario. The distance between the two was very short thanks to the distance Axel managed to cover in his leap, leaving Lucario very little opportunity to react before the flaming horse slammed into it. Lucario screamed in pain as the fierce flames engulfed it and Axel continued to push it back across the field.

Cynthia smirked. "An excellent recovery, but the battle is still our's. Lucario, throw it off balance with a Psychic attack." In spite of the punishment it had to endure Cynthia's Lucario was still able to focus enough to launch an attack. Its eyes flashed and a psychic force suddenly threw Axel back. Axel landed on his back when he hit the ground, extinguishing the flames almost instantly.

"It knows Psychic!" Dawn cried out in disbelief.

"You shouldn't let something as minor as that throw you off, Dawn," Cynthia said to her. "Lucario, move in with Extremespeed and pummel her rapidash with Bone Rush."

"Like I really would!" Dawn called back. "Axel, fight back with Flare Blitz!"

Axel rolled over and then quickly stood up as Lucario dashed toward him in a blur of movement. Axel was facing away from Lucario when he stood up and was struck from behind, staggering forward a bit before quickly turning to face Lucario. Axel wreathed his body in flames while Lucario formed a bone-shaped staff in its hands and moved in close to Axel.

Axel didn't get a chance to really use his attack. His body was completely enveloped in flames but he was held in place by the barrage of attacks as Lucario struck him repeatedly with the staff. It was wielding the staff in two hands, one at each hand, and hitting Axel with one hand after another. Lucario, however, wasn't escaping harm either. The flames around Axel burned intensely and were slowly weakening Lucario further as it continued to attack.

In the end, though, Lucario was able to endure the flames and beat Axel senseless. After taking blow after blow to his side and neck one of the attacks finally struck Axel in the head. Axel staggered off to the side and collapsed, instantly knocked out. Lucario, heavily weakened from keeping close to Axel's flaming body for so long, fell to its knees. Lucario was only barely in the fight itself now.

Dawn had to keep herself from yelling things that would make her mother have a heart attack to hear her say as she recalled Axel. She could feel just how close the match between him and Lucario had been but, in the end, one lucky blow from Lucario threw Axel off his entire game. But feeling how weak the Lucario's usually very noticeable aura was, Dawn knew exactly which pokemon could end it and quickly drew that pokemon's pokeball.

"Captain Falcon, I choose you!" Dawn called out as she released Captain Falcon from her pokeball. As soon as the bird pokemon appeared hovering over the field, Dawn called out the attack. "Captain Falcon, finish this! Quick Attack!" Captain Falcon flapped her wings and took off in a blur of movement, striking Lucario in passing. Lucario dropped like a ton of bricks.

"Oh my... to think that much would end it," Cynthia said. She chuckled quietly to herself as she recalled her pokemon. "Well, it can't be helped. Perhaps Lucario was just a poor choice. I'll make this next match-up more interesting, however." Cynthia put Lucario's pokeball in her pocket and drew another without any hesitation.

"Togekiss, go!" Cynthia called out, releasing her own flyer. Dawn wasn't too surprised to see the togekiss that emerged and perched on the ground. Having been given a togepi egg by Cynthia it only made sense that she would have such a pokemon in her arsenal. On top of that, Dawn had a pretty good idea of what attacks it might know for that same reason.

"Captain Falcon, fly up and get ready for an attack!" Captain Falcon flapped her wings and took off straight up, gaining altitude for an attack.

"Togekiss, fire a Shockwave!"

"Captain Falcon, dive! Push through that Shockwave with Brave Bird!"

Togekiss let out a cry and released a jolt of electricity in all directions, angling the attack up at Captain Falcon. Captain Falcon, meanwhile, turned and dove down toward Togekiss. A blue, burning aura surrounded Captain Falcon as she shot down. She grimaced and shuddered slightly as she soon passed through the electricity. It was nearly instantaneous, but Captain Falcon's body held the charge. After passing through it she rammed into Togekiss from above, flattening him into the ground and slamming into the ground herself. The collision hurt both pokemon greatly. Togekiss was left lying flat for a few seconds while Captain Falcon had bounced a few feet away where she, too, was briefly stunned from the impact.

"A heavy blow to both pokemon right from the start. Interesting," Cynthia mused. "Then we shall aim to end this now! Togekiss, Extremespeed!"

"Not so fast! Captain Falcon, Quick Attack!"

Both pokemon summoned their remaining strength. They got back up, turned to face each other, then flapped their wings and took off in a blur of movement. The two pokemon shot past each other, exchanging glancing blows at incredible speeds and then landing after they passed. The two pokemon stood quietly for several seconds until Cynthia's Togekiss collapsed. The battle was already decided.

"I'm beginning to sense a pattern here," Cynthia noted with a smirk. Recalling her Togekiss, Cynthia returned its pokeball to her pocket and had another one ready when she pulled her hand out. "Milotic, go!" she called out, releasing a long, serpentine pokemon into the artificial lake on the field. It was the first time in Dawn's entire Elite Four challenge that the lake was even being used.

"Milotic, take her pokemon down with Ice Beam!" Cynthia called out. Her Milotic opened her mouth and fired a blue, lightning-like beam in Captain Falcon's direction.

"We won't give in to that pattern so easily!" Dawn said to Cynthia. "Captain Falcon, Double Team!" Captain Falcon's body shimmered and split off into several duplicate images of herself. Only a false image now remained in the spot where Captain Falcon had been standing. Milotic's Ice Beam passed through that image harmlessly and drestroyed it, leaving two more Captain Falcon's on either side.

"Now! Attack with Brave Bird!"

"Milotic, again! Ice Beam!"

Captain Falcon and her clones took off into the air and performed a quick sommersault to gain speed. A blue aura formed around Captain Falcon again but, by this point, all of her clones had vanished. This left only the real Captain Falcon on a collision course with Milotic. Milotic took aim at Captain Falcon and fired another Ice Beam at her. The beam struck Captain Falcon and ice began to form on her body, but the distance was too close for this to stop her. Captain Falcon plowed into Milotic, causing the serpent pokemon to recoil in pain as the bird pokemon smashed into the upper part of her body. Captain Falcon, however, was knocked out instantly and dropped into the water.

"Well, my pokemon actually managed to hit your's before she went down, at least!" Dawn said to Cynthia with a smirk on her face. She held out Captain Falcon's pokeball and recalled her unconscious, floating form, then quickly took another pokeball in her hand. "Okay! Time to start calling out the big guns! Cresselia, I choose you!" The pokeball Dawn took in her hand opened and out came the legendary pokemon, Cresselia.

"Cresselia, start by firing a Charge Beam!" Dawn called out quickly. Cresselia focused on Milotic and fired a narrow beam of electricity at her.

"Milotic, Mirror Coat!" Cynthia commanded in response. Milotic's body took on a reflective sheen with only milliseconds to spare before the beam struck her. The beam struck a relatively light blow, in spite of Milotic's weakness to electric-type attacks, while simultaneously triggering Milotic's Mirror Coat. A blast of energy with twice the intensity of Cresselia's Charge Beam attack shot back at the legendary pokemon as a result. Cresselia's head snapped back when the blast struck her but she was able to shake it off fairly easily due to her incredible endurance.

"That attack hardly did a thing, but that doesn't matter much, does it?" Cynthia said to Dawn. "Milotic, I think now would be a good time to use Recover and regain some of your strength." Milotic's body shimmered as she drew out energy from within. All the damage caused to her by Cresselia and Captain Falcon's combined efforts was immediately healed.

_Of course Cynthia would know about Charge Beam's effect. Not that I was trying to fool her,_ Dawn thought, shaking her head. "Cresselia, let's take this time to heal, too! Moonlight!" Cresselia's body began to glow as she drew in surrounding light. Using that light to heal herself, Cresselia was also able to restore all damage that had been done to her.

"That's right, your legendary pokemon uses a technique like that to heal, doesn't she?" Cynthia noted with a slight smirk. "Milotic, use Rain Dance." Milotic let out a melodic cry and began to swivel her head around. Rain clouds began to form over the battlefield, blocking out much of the illumination from the above light fixtures and causing a sudden downpour across the field.

"What a pain," Dawn grumbled. "Cresselia, use Future Sight!" Cresselia's eyes flashed as the pokemon looked into the future and launched an attack with her psychic power. She foresaw a beam of psychic energy that would strike Milotic later in the match.

"Preparing for later? Then we shall, too!" Cynthia said, smiling and chuckling to herself. "Milotic, Aqua Ring!" Milotic let out another cry and raised her head toward the air. Water from the lake began to rise up in two thin ribbons and swirled around her, forming into several rings. The rings provided Milotic with a constant source of energy to restore her strength.

"How long has it been now since either of our pokemon launched an attack at each other?" Dawn wondered aloud, then shook her head. "Well that ends now! Cresselia, Charge Beam! Aim for the water!" Cresselia focused and fired another beam of electricity, one that was slightly wider than the first. This time, she aimed for the water near Milotic. The electricity poured into the water, indirectly shocking Milotic with only slightly less power.

"Alright! Keep it up, Cresselia!" Cresselia continued the attack, focusing more electricity into the beam. The beam continued to grow larger and larger as Cresselia continued the attack, her own power increasing from the energy flow.

"And here I thought we were going to continue playing defensively," Cynthia said jokingly. "Milotic, attack her pokemon with Hydro Pump." Milotic concentrated on ignoring the constant pain from the electricity flowing into her body and took aim at Cresselia. Opening her mouth, Milotic fired a high-pressure, continuous stream of water at Cresselia. In spite of the power of the attack, which was boosted by the rain, Cresselia took the attack in stride and continued pouring on the electricity.

"Okay, Cresselia, good job! Now aim for Milotic herself with Psychic!"

"Milotic, counter with Mirror Coat!"

Cresselia's eyes flashed and Milotic's body shimmered. Milotic's body briefly glowed blue as a powerful psychic force struck her. Milotic was lifted clear from the water and thrown back. As she was flying through the air her body flashed and a blast of energy fired back at Cresselia with twice the power she hit Milotic with. Cresselia cried out in pain as the blast of energy struck her and fell to the ground, knocked out by the blast. Milotic, meanwhile, had landed back in the water and now floated unconscious on the surface. With both pokemon down, the rain clouds covering the field finally dispersed as well.

"Both our pokemon were knocked out this time," Dawn commented as she recalled Cresselia. Cynthia, her own pokemon knocked out as well, chuckled and recalled Milotic.

"It seems so. However, I think my Milotic has done well to take down a legendary pokemon on its own," Cynthia said. She then took another pokeball from her pocket. "Looks like we both send out another pokemon, then."

"Right," Dawn replied, nodding in agreement. She retrieved a pokeball from her belt as well now and both girls prepared to released their second-to-last pokemon.

"Roserade, I choose you!"

"Bowser, this one's all your's!"

"Both grass types... but I'm afraid you'll find us anything but evenly matched! Roserade, get in close and use Sludge Bomb!" Roserade held both her rose-tipped arms at her side and ran forward for several feet, closing the distance between herself and Bowser slightly. Then, after closing the distance, Roserade stopped and brought both arms forward to fire two blobs of sludge at Bowser. The blobs combined in the air before landed on Bowser's head and exploding into a purple, sludgy mess.

_Bowser is at a bit of a disadvantage here, but I think we can still manage!_ Dawn thought. "Bowser, use Earthquake!" Bowser shook off as much of the sludge as he could before attacking. He then rose up on his hind legs and slammed the ground hard. A shockwave rocked the battlefield, causing the ground to crack and shake. The Earthquake knocked Roserade off her feet and chunks of rock and earth smacked her from below. Roserade took a heavy blow from the attack but was quickly on her feet again when the shaking ended.

"Keeping at it regardless, hmm?" Cynthia smirked. "I wonder what you're planning? Whatever it is, will you still be able to do it while your pokemon is asleep?" She chuckled to herself and then called out a command. "Roserade, Grass Whistle!" Roserade put her flowers to her mouth and blew, producing a soft, soothing whistling noise.

_Yeah, that WOULD be bad!_ Dawn thought with a wince. "Bowser, try to block it out! ...I know! Use Shell and Seed!" Bowser quickly ducked down, covering his body and head with his shell. With the shell blocking his face it was nearly impossible to tell what kind of an effect the attack was having on him.

"Hmm? Did it actually work?" Cynthia wondered. She soon had her answer as a clump of seeds suddenly fired out of Bowser's mouth. The seeds hit Roserade square in the face, exploding on contact and knocking her off her feet.

"Way to go, Bowser!" Dawn cheered. "Now let's finish the job with another Earthquake!"

"Not so fast! Roserade, Sludge Bomb!"

Bowser rose up on his hind legs and slammed the ground, sending another tremor throughout the battlefield. Realizing she didn't have much time, Roserade launched her attack while still on the ground. She pointed her red bouquet at Bowser and fired a large blob of sludge at him, firing the attack just before the Earthquake struck her and knocked her out. The blob of sludge landed on Bowser and exploded, covering his body in even more sludge. Bowser groaned and staggered back while shaking himself, trying to get the sludge off.

"It seems you won in spite of your pokemon's disadvantage. I must commend you for that," Cynthia said as she recalled Roserade. In spite of the loss, she was smiling. Just as she had hoped, both trainers were very much keeping each other on their toes and it had been a close battle all the way through. Now, as Cynthia drew her final pokeball from her coat, the battle was coming to a close. Cynthia already knew her final pokemon would defeat Bowser, but how would it fair against Dawn's last pokemon after?

"Garchomp, it's all up to you now! Go!" Cynthia called out, holding out her pokeball and releasing her Garchomp onto the battlefield. Garchomp let out a mighty roar as she appeared, knowing full well that she was Cynthia's final pokemon.

_Garchomp... this one's going to be tough,_ Dawn thought. _But if I can just get a Leech Seed on it, then my own garchomp will be able to beat it for sure!_

"Garchomp, attack at full power! Dragon Rush!"

"Bowser, Shell and Leech Seed!"

Garchomp let out a roar and charged across the field, arms held out as if she were trying to fly. Garchomp was moving so quickly that Bowser was left with little time to react. He was barely able to get under his thick shell in time for it to take the brunt of the impact as Garchomp charged into him. Garchomp struck with terrifying force, roaring and growling with the attack. Bowser withstood it, but barely. His body glowed briefly and more leaves suddenly grew out of the tree on his back. Bowser followed up Garchomp's attack by launching a seed at her from that tree, which latched onto her face to drain her strength.

"Your torterra's defenses are impressive, but this will end it! Garchomp, Flamethrower!" Cynthia's Garchomp stood back and opened her mouth to belch intensely hot flames onto Bowser. Bowser groaned in pain and collapsed almost instantly. Dawn was ready for this and quickly recalled him, then took her final pokeball in hand.

"Bahamut, your turn now! Let's finish this!" Dawn called out as she released Bahamut onto the field. Bahamut let out a roar as he appeared and then grinned when he saw the other garchomp.

"-Finally! A REAL opponent!-"

Garchomp snorted. "-For you, maybe.-"

"So it comes down to this. Two garchomps," Cynthia mused. "Very well then! Garchomp, start with Dragon Rush!"

"Bahamut, counter with Dig!"

Cynthia's Garchomp backed up a few steps and then charged toward Bahamut. Garchomp let out a fierce roar as she charged, making a fierce attack. By the time she reached him, however, Bahamut had already dug into the ground to avoid the attack. Garchomp let out a low growl when she realized her prey had escaped.

"You'll regret that move! Garchomp, Earthquake!" Cynthia's Garchomp raised one foot and stomped the ground hard, causing a powerful shockwave that rocked the battlefield. The ground around her shook and cracked. Beneath the battlefield, the shifting earth was even more trecherous. Bahamut was smacked and jolted around by the very terrain he was digging through and taking a heavy beating. When the shaking finally ended her burst from the ground behind Garchomp, throwing her slightly off balance. He looked pretty badly hurt, his body covered in scratches and scrapes, but was still more than ready to fight.

"Bahamut, attack now with Dragon Claw!" Dawn called out. An orange glow surrounded one set of claws as Bahamut turned to face his opponent, who still had her back to him. Deciding he preferred a frontal assault, Bahamut waited for Garchomp to turn around before finally making the attack, slicing up the front of her body with his claws. His claws raked across her face as well, though, ripping the Leech Seed clean off.

_So much for that,_ Dawn thought, wincing when she saw the seed get torn off.

"Garchomp, finish her pokemon with Dragon Claw!"

"Block it and strike back with Dragon Claw, Bahamut!"

Both dragon pokemon extended their claws, which took on an orange glow. Cynthia's Garchomp lashed out at Bahamut first, making a downward slash with her claws. Bahamut brought one clawed hand up to block, then made a counter-attack with his other hand. Garchomp likewise responded by blocking Bahamut's attack with her free hand.

"-You're good,-" Garchomp said as she drew one clawed hand back. She then lashed out at Bahamut again with a cry of, "-BUT I'M BETTER!-"

"-NOT A CHANCE!-" Bahamut roared in response, bringing his hand up to block her's again. "-You're a strong opponent, I'll give you that much. I wouldn't expect any less from another garchomp!-"

Garchomp growled in defiance and tried to pull away from Bahamut to make another attack. This time, Bahamut gripped her hands and held tightly, locking the two in a grapple. Refusing to accept this, Garchomp tried to pull free. She was unable to overcome Bahamut's power, however.

"Your garchomp is playing a dangerous game!" Cynthia said to Dawn. "Garchomp, show them your true power! Attack with Giga Impact and finish this!"

_We've got her!_ Dawn thought as she felt Garchomp's power surge suddenly. "Bahamut, roll back with the attack!"

Garchomp's strength surged and she started to move forward while trying to pull herself free, moving with a sudden burst of power and momentum. Bahamut held his grip, though, and dropped down. He rolled back across the ground as Garchomp tried to move forward, using her own sudden momentum to give her a powerful throw back across the battlefield. While Garchomp was soaring through the air he quickly got back onto his feet and turned to face her.

"Now, Bahamut! DRAGON CLAW!"

"-Like I said, you're pretty strong,-" Bahamut said as he took off across the battlefield, quickly catching up with Garchomp just as she was starting to flip over in the air to land on her feet. "-But right here, right now, I will prove that I AM THE STRONGEST GARCHOMP THERE IS!-"

Cynthia's Garchomp landed before Bahamut made his attack but had no time to counter it. She could only watch as Bahamut approached her in the blink of an eye. As fast as he was actually moving, he suddenly seemed to be in slow motion as his clawed hand came forward. He wasn't slashing at her now so much as jabbing his claws toward her, thrusting them into her chest. The claws dug into her painfully and she was struck with such force that she was lifted clean off her feet and thrown onto her back. She wouldn't remember hitting the ground, however. By then, she had lost consciousness.

As Cynthia recalled her Garchomp, she let out a heavy sigh. "It's strange, somehow I feel both elated and yet disappointed," she said. She smiled at Dawn from across the field. "I think I would have liked for that battle to last a little longer, but it was fun nonetheless."

_I think I know what she means,_ Dawn thought. For her, too, the feeling was like she had finally beaten a boss or section in a video game that was giving her trouble.

"Just a few moments ago, you were the most powerful challenger," Cynthia continued. "And just now, you became the most powerful of all the trainers. You are now Sinnoh's newest champion!"

"I can hardly believe it..." Dawn said. "I never set out to try to be the champion, I didn't even think I could do it. I heard Sinnoh's Elite Four were pretty tough, and even trainers who managed to beat the Elite Four still couldn't stand up to you, Cynthia. Somehow, in spite of all that..."

Dawn looked down at the field where her last pokemon remained. Bahamut was looking pretty beat but was still in better condition than any of her other pokemon. They all fought their hardest just to manage to beat Cynthia by as narrow a margin as they did but, in the end, they won regardless. If they were in better shape she probably would have released them from their pokeballs to stand alongside Bahamut.

"In spite of all that..." Dawn thrust her hand into the air and yelled at the top of her lungs, "WE'RE THE CHAMPIONS!"

* * *

Author's Notes: Phew... bit late finishing this one up thanks to Easter yesterday. But, here it is! The final battle, Dawn versus Cynthia!

...Well, not QUITE the final battle. Still have a few chapters left. I want to quickly cover the Battle Tower and give the saga a bit of closure while simultaneously setting up the next one a bit. Shouldn't take more than 3-4 chapters. 3-4 chapters that will put us quite clearly over the 70 (numbered) chapters mark.

Cripes...

I've said this before, but the Johto Saga I plan to move along a bit more quickly and have something important happening with every chapter. More than just a pokemon capture or faffing about on some route, at any rate. Gym battles will occur as the story progresses and the trainers the story will be focusing on will be rather front-loaded as far as their pokemon go, one starting with 2-3 pokemon in the first chapter and the other a full team of 6. Most of the captures that will happen will be by the first trainer, who happens to have rather specific interests when it comes to what pokemon she wants to catch anyway. It'll be kinda like how the trainers in the manga usually have a pokemon or a few before actually getting a pokemon from the professor, like Red with his Poliwhirl or Dia and Pearl with Munchlax and Chatot. Can't remember the pokemon nicknames...

That's the plan, anyway. We'll see how that turns out.


	71. Chapter 69: Bored Champion Wanders

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 69**

**Bored Champion Wanders**

For someone who had just become the Sinnoh region's newest champion, Dawn felt unusually bored. She should have felt elated after her victory over Cynthia but, due to certain circumstances, she didn't.

After defeating Cynthia, Dawn and her pokemon were registered in the Sinnoh League Hall of Fame. It seemed incredibly over the top to Dawn, having such a large computer for that sole purpose, but that was the least of her issues with the Sinnoh League's extravagance after battling in a replica castle. Professor Rowan joined her for the registering as well, though only him. It was a process he had gone through once before with Cynthia many years ago.

Then, after having been registered in the hall of fame, Cynthia was quick to suggest another party. A more proper party this time, too. This was what had lead to Dawn's boredom. She mostly wanted to go home and play video games but had been denied of that as her villa was now in the process of being turned into party central. Chairs and tables were being set up, food was being ordered and prepared. There were many things to be done in preparation for the party this time.

On top of that, the foreign girls that Dawn had met and fought alongside had left now as well. Melany, May, Ashley, and Rina had all set off for their island home. They had actually requested Dawn drop by after her partying, though, as they still had a lot to talk about. From what Dawn understood, they were trying to make a sanctuary for legendary pokemon and, after their trip to the Sinnoh region, realized they would need more room for pokemon and legendary pokemon in particular.

It was for these reasons that Dawn now wandered through the Battle Zone, riding on her aerial mount, Captain Falcon. She wasn't sure what she was looking for at this point. She was just bored.

"There has to be something to do to kill time in the Battle Zone..." Dawn mumbled as she and Captain Falcon flew through the air. As if expecting someone to point out the obvious, even though she was alone, she then quickly added, "Something aside from battling!"

Dawn let out a sigh. "Well, it's not like I wouldn't mind a battle. It's just... where do you even go after you've beaten Cynthia!"

"-I know those guys were tough, but I'm STILL lost on why you care so much about beating them,-" Captain Falcon grumbled.

As they continued to fly over the Battle Zone, heading west, Dawn started to notice something in the distance. It was hard not to, really, as there seemed to be a large tower ahead. The tower itself wasn't of much interest, though. Rather, it was the familiar figure riding another staraptor she saw descending toward it that interested her.

"Was that Barry?" Dawn wondered aloud. "Captain Falcon, take us that way!" she then said, pointing toward where she saw the staraptor landing. Captain Falcon nodded and altered her course slightly, heading toward the base of the tower. She saw Barry running into the tower just as she was landing.

"Barry just went inside..." Dawn mumbled to herself. She looked up at the tower that stood before her, wondering what it is. A rather large sign over the door said, "Battle Tower".

"Battle Tower... I wonder why Barry went here?" Dawn wondered aloud. She then remembered Barry mentioning something about having a new goal instead of challenging the Elite Four. "I wonder if he..."

"You came here too, Dawn?" a familiar voice asked her. Dawn spun around so quickly she fell off Captain Falcon's back. Looking up from the ground she saw Lucas looking down at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Quite the dismount," Lucas said to her. Dawn growled and quickly bolted up onto her feet.

"That was your fault!" she yelled at him. Lucas shrugged.

"So what brings you here, anyway? You're not really going to challenge the Battle Tower after you just beat the Elite Four and Cynthia?" he asked her, ignoring her accusation entirely.

Dawn blinked in confusion. "Challenge the Battle Tower? What do you mean by that?" she asked him.

"The Battle Tower is a place where powerful trainers battle it out in either single or double battles. The battles are tournament-style and whoever wins gets to challenge the Tower's leader."

"So where does this guy rank in relation to Cynthia?" Dawn asked.

"The Battle Tower is unaffiliated with the leagues, but many people seem to think Palmer is even stronger than..."

"Wait, did you say Palmer?" Dawn asked, interrupting him.

Lucas raised an eyebrow at her. "Yeah, why?"

"And Barry just ran in there..." Dawn said quietly, turning to look at the tower again. After thinking to herself for a moment she took Captain Falcon's pokeball in her hand. "Captain Falcon, thanks for the ride. You can rest for real now," she said as she recalled Captain Falcon. Dawn then put the pokeball away and quickly dashed into the tower.

"H-hey! Wait up!" Lucas called out after her. He ran in behind her, wondering what had gotten Dawn so excited all of a sudden.

Dawn stopped just as suddenly when she got into the lobby and looked around in disbelief.

There weren't very many trainers gathered in the tower lobby, but the few that were there were almost all faces that Dawn recognized. Cheryl, a friend of her mother's that she encountered in Eterna Forest. Riley, who she had trained with on Iron Island. Buck, Flint's brother who tried to help her get a legendary pokemon. Mira, who Dawn had been briefly stuck underground with. Marley, a girl she met briefly at the Pokemon Mansion This was all in addition to herself, Barry, and Lucas.

_How should I put it... this has a very 'everyone gathered for the last battle' kinda feel to it,_ Dawn thought, then folded her arms in contemplation. _But we've already had a major battle against a god-like entity, all the villains in Sinnoh have been rounded up, AND I've beaten the entire Sinnoh League... what more could there be?_

Seeing that Dawn had stopped, Lucas came to a stop behind her. He eyed her curiously for a moment, wondering what she was thinking about, before speaking to her again. "Dawn, what was with you running off just now?" he asked her.

"Dawn!" a young girl's voice cried out in disbelief when she overheard Lucas speaking. Mira had finally noticed Dawn's presence in the Battle Tower lobby and turned to her with a scowl on her face. "How did someone like you get to a place like this!"

Riley was leaning against the wall near Mira when he overheard her. A smirk crossed his lips as he turned to her. "Oh? Haven't you heard?" he asked. "I just heard the news from my good friend, Byron. It seems that Dawn here has become the new regional champion."

"Wh-wh-wh-WHAT!" Mira shrieked in confusion. She tried and failed to comprehend this, then turned to point a finger angrily at Dawn. "There's no way someone as stupid and irresponsible as her could become champion! I was trapped underground for DAYS because of her!"

"But it IS true!" Buck said to her, grinning. "I should know, my brother is one of the Elite Four. In fact, I was there when she beat Volkner to get her final badge just the other day."

"Go figure. Dawn's causing a ruckus just by being here," Lucas muttered, rolling his eyes.

"It's not like I do it on purpose!" Dawn shot back, then turned to Mira. "And just what's wrong with the underground, anyway? I thought that place was fun!"

"Only you would think that place was fun!" Mira shot back.

"Oh my. It seems you've had a bad experience with Dawn," Cheryl said. "But do you think one bad experience should color your opinion of her?" she asked Mira.

"I was trapped underground. For days. With her," Mira said flatly. "I thought she was really cool when I first met her but..."

"DAWN!" Barry suddenly shouted in rage. He had been keeping quiet while Mira yelled at her but his impatience finally got the best of him. "What ARE you doing here! Aren't you satisfied with being the champion!" Barry then ran up to her and jabbed his finger in her face. "Well? Well! WELL!"

"Wh-what!" Dawn stuttered out in confusion and stumbled back when Barry suddenly jabbed his finger in her face, almost hitting Lucas. "Wait a minute! Just what's the big deal here? Isn't this overreacting a bit even for you?"

"This is the Battle Tower!" Barry replied sharply. "The Battle Tower that's run by my father! And I will definitely be the one to beat him!"

"Seems like you have quite a bit of competition, though," Lucas said to Barry, then gestured around the lobby. "The best trainers from around Sinnoh were called out to the Battle Tower today, afterall. Even if Dawn doesn't enter it'll be tough." Lucas then shrugged and added. "Of course, I don't think she's THAT far ahead of us even if she beat Cynthia."

Barry recalled how easily Cynthia beat him and cringed. "Speak for yourself!"

"What's all the fuss out here, now?" Everyone turned when they heard the man's voice and saw a tall, blonde-haired man standing in front of the reception desk with a huge grin on his face. He quickly surveyed the crowd, his gaze coming to rest on Dawn and Barry.

"So these are some of the best trainers in Sinnoh, huh?" The man laughed. "Alright! I'm looking forward to some great battles from you all to commemorate this day! Good luck to everyone and put on a good show out there!" The man then turned and was about to bolt back through the door behind the desk when the receptionist, a lady in a business suit, stopped him.

"Palmer, don't you think you should explain the rules first?" she said to him. "You did say there would be special rules today..."

"Ah, right..." Palmer grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, then turned to face the trainers again. "Alright, everyone, listen up! Since today's special, there's going to be some special rules! The battles will be double battles with pairings decided at random. Each trainer will enter three pokemon, but only two will be used in each match. Everyone's pokemon will be made known, thus trainers will decide what pokemon to use based on what pokemon their opponents have."

"Interesting way of doing things..." Lucas said in quiet contemplation.

"When the winning team is decided, the two trainers on that team will battle each other... in a triple battle!" Palmer grinned at this. He seemed pretty pleased with that decision, almost as if he had come up with it on a whim. "And then the winner of THAT battle will go on to battle me in a singles battle, 3 pokemon each. And if you beat me... if you beat me..."

Palmer stroked his chin thoughtfully. He was mostly making this up as he went on and now he felt the need to throw in a meaningful prize. He snapped his fingers when he finally came up with one. "If you beat me, not only do you get a special badge to prove it, but you'll become the proud new owner of this very tower!" Many of the gathered trainers gasped in disbelief. "Any questions?"

"Umm, excuse me!" Dawn called out, waving her hand in the air. "But, what's going on here exactly?"

"Ah..." Palmer let out an overly dramatic sigh and clasped his hands. "I see you have not heard..."

"Heard what?" Dawn asked.

"The Battle Tower... will be closing," Palmer said. Though he sounded remorseful, it was clear he was forcing it. "Recently I received an invitation to become the leader of a new Battle Tower that will be part of the Battle Frontier in Johto. However..."

Palmer struck a dramatic pose, pointing toward the ceiling. "I WILL NOT LET THIS TOWER FALL WITHOUT ONE HECK OF A BATTLE FIRST!"

_This would be where Barry gets it,_ Dawn thought, rolling her eyes.

"That's quite the variety of battle styles," Riley mused with a slight smirk on his face. "Should be fun. How will the pairings be decided?"

"Hmm..." Palmer pondered this for a moment before suddenly pointing at Lucas. "Okay, beret dude? You're with..." He looked around and then pointed at Marley. "Goth chick!"

"We have names," Lucas grumbled. Marley furrowed her brow and looked as if she wanted to say something too, but she kept quiet.

"That guy with the cool hat, you're with the pink-haired loli," Palmer continued, pointing to Riley and Mira respectively.

"Fine by me," Riley said, tilting his hat slightly. Mira, however, just looked confused.

"What's a... 'loli'?" She asked. Her question would go unanswered.

"The green-haired lady can go with the red-haired guy. I think those colors go together well!"

"Aw, well, you better be pretty good, lady!" Buck said to Cheryl. Cheryl raised an eyebrow and then chuckled quietly to herself.

"Don't worry. My pokemon have many tricks up their sleeves," she said to him.

"And that I guess just leaves you two," Palmer said, pointing at Barry and Dawn. "First match will be between you two, cool-hat, and pink-haired loli! Good luck everyone and see whoever it is at the top!" Palmer then turned and bolted off into the tower.

"W-wait! That's not random at all!" Dawn called out after him, then let out a sigh. "Why is no one else concerned about this?"

Barry then suddenly spun around to face her again and jabbed a finger in her face. "Dawn, if we lose because of you then I'm fining you one hundred billion! We're beating these guys and then, when we get to the top, I'm taking you out!"

"R-right..." Dawn replied, smiling nervously. _He must be really fired up to fight his father here... but isn't anyone going to question these pairings!_

The receptionist stepped forward and clapped her hands together. "Everyone who is scheduled to battle now, please follow me."

* * *

From the lobby, Dawn, Barry, Riley, and Mira are lead into waiting rooms. Dawn and Barry are taken to one room and Riley and Mira to another. Each of them enter three pokemon and are then given five minutes to study their opponent's pokemon on the computer screen.

"That Riley guy has some pretty tough-looking pokemon!" Barry said to Dawn. On the screen, Riley's pokemon were revealed to be a salamence, a lucario, and a metagross. Barry himself was entering with Infernape, Azelf, and Snorlax.

"Mira has some good ones too," Dawn pointed out. Mira's three pokemon consisted of a porygonz, magnezone, and gengar. Dawn had chosen to give some of her pokemon a rest after beating the Elite Four with them and thus had chosen Ryu, Jack Frost, and Eggman to enter with.

"Well! Infernape and Azelf can handle anything either of them throw at us!" Barry said, grinning. He then turned to Dawn and asked, "So what about you?"

"I'll use Jack Frost and Ryu," Dawn replied. "I'm worried a bit about that salamence in particular and Jack Frost might be able to pin down two opponents pretty good."

"Great!" Barry reached out and grabbed Dawn by the hand. "Let's go, then!" he said, then dragged Dawn out of the waiting room and into the battle room.

The battlefield was fairly standard, though it lacked the open ground to support techniques like Earthquake. The reason for this was because the battle room they were using wasn't on the lower floors, but rather was almost midway up the tower. This limited their options some, but neither Dawn nor Parry were particularly worried. They took up position on one side of the field and were soon joined by Riley and Mira on the other side. A young man in a black and white striped shirt was there to act as referee.

"I'm looking forward to this, Dawn," Riley said from across the field. "Last we met I was your teacher but now you are the champion."

"If you're going to say something like that then you should have taught me how to use a lasersword!" Dawn called back. Both their partners looked at them in confusion and shrugged.

"Trainers, call out your first pokemon!" the referee called out from the sidelines. Each of the four trainers gathered nodded and drew their pokeballs.

"Infernape, gogoGO!"

"Jack Frost, let's go!"

"PorygonZ, I choose you!"

"Salamence, go!"

Four pokemon emerged onto the battlefield. The fiery ape pokemon Infernape appeared before Barry. On Dawn's area of the field, the icy, vulpine pokemon Jack Frost appeared. A crazed-looking version of the artificial pokemon Porygon appeared before Mira. Finally, a fairly traditional-looking dragon appeared before Riley.

"Barry, Mira's PorygonZ packs quite a bit of firepower. Try to take it out with Close Combat," Dawn quietly said.

"Heh! You don't have to tell me twice!" Barry replied eagerly. "Infernape, get in there and attack that porygon with Close Combat!" Infernape nodded and charged across the field, moving toward Mira's PorygonZ to attack it.

"Salamence, block that pokemon's attack!" Riley commanded his pokemon. Salamence quickly took off and moved to put itself between Barry's Infernape and Mira's PorygonZ.

"Not so fast! Jack, hit Salamence with Ice Shard!" Jack Frost's forehead gem flashed and the air around him quickly chilled, forming several shards of ice around him that were flung at Salamence at high speed. The ice shards hit Salamence, causing the dragon pokemon to cry out in pain and drop to the ground short of its target. Infernape was able to reach PorygonZ as a result and lauched a flurry of blows at point-blank range.

"Porygon, endure it! That Infernape is wide open, a Tri-Attack will take it out for sure!" Mira called out to her pokemon. Porygon's disembodied limbs spun around and then pointed at Infernape while the ape was still hammering it. A different colored beam - blue, yellow, and red - fired from each limb and struck Infernape in the chest. The fiery ape pokemon cried out sharply and was flung back by the attack.

"Hehe! So much for that!" Mira said smugly, resting her hands on her hips. To her utter shock, though, Infernape immediately jumped back onto his feet. He let out a primal scream that echoed throughout the battle room. Flames billowed out from his tail and his eyes began to glow red. "Wh-what!" Mira stammered in confusion.

"Ha! Looks like you've done a lot of damage, but you've also triggered Infernape's Blaze ability!" Barry said to her. "Now we're really going to burn you!"

"Then let us make the first move! Jack, Icy Wind! Hit them both!" Jack Frost nodded and opened his mouth to release a blast of intensely cold air. Riley's Salamence shivered as the cold air came upon it, sending a chill through its body. PorygonZ was affected as well though didn't show any sign of it. Both pokemon had their movements slowed by the cold.

"Now, let's finish these two! They should be close enough, so hit them both with Flamethrower! From above!" Infernape nodded and quickly jumped up in the direction of Mira and Riley's pokemon. While in the air he aimed down and released a tremendous blast of flames upon them. The flames engulfed both pokemon completely, searing them with intense heat. The updraft from the flames slowed Infernape's own descent but he soon fell into his own fire. The flames subsided shortly after and all three pokemon were revealed to be fainted.

"Triple knock-out confirmed!" the referee declared. "Barry, Mira, Riley! Recall your pokemon!" All three of them proceeded to do so and quickly took another pokeball in their hands, getting ready to call out their next pokemon.

_Barry's pokemon have gotten pretty strong,_ Dawn thought to herself. _With Azelf on his team, he might make me look like I'm slacking off here!_

"Azelf, your turn now, go!" Barry called out, sending out the very pokemon Dawn was just thinking of. The pokeball in Barry's hand opened and out came his blue-headed legendary pokemon of Lake Valor, Azelf.

"-Ready for battle! I'll tear 'em up!-" Azelf boasted proudly.

"Gengar, I'm counting on you! Pick up where Porygon left off!"

"Lucario, it comes down to this now! I choose you!"

Riley and Mira released their next pokemon as well. On Mira's side of the field was a ghost pokemon that Dawn actually wasn't very familiar with. A purple, humanoid pokemon with spikes along its back and tail was what appeared before Mira. The pokemon that appeared before Riley, however, she was much more familiar with. It was his Lucario, which Dawn had spent quite some time around.

"Gengar, attack that blue floating thing with Shadow Ball!" Mira called out.

"Not so fast!" Barry called back. "Azelf, Psychic!"

Mira's Gengar began to form a ball of shadowstuff in its hands, but lost the ball as it was hit by a sudden blast of psychic force. It was a powerful psychic thrust launched at it by Azelf, throwing Gengar back. It was launched clear out of the battlefield and smashed into the wall outside. Gengar bounced off the wall and fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Knock-out confirmed! Mira, please recall your pokemon!" the referee commanded.

"Wh-what!" Mira stammered in disbelief. "Both of my pokemon were defeated so easily!" Swallowing hard, she held out Gengar's pokeball and recalled it.

"Then I suppose it is all up to me..." Riley said quietly. He reached up to adjust his hat slightly, then held out his hand toward Jack Frost and called out an attack. "Lucario, Close Combat!" Riley's Lucario immediately dashed forward, closing the distance between himself and Jack. Once he was in melee range he began to pound on Jack with a flurry of punches in kicks, causing Jack's head to snap back with each blow.

"Jack Frost, return!" Dawn held out Jack's pokeball and quickly recalled him, then took another pokeball in her hand. "Ryu, your turn now! Go!" she then called out, sending out her own lucario. Ryu appeared only a few feet in front of Lucario. The two pokemon stared each other in the eye and then slid into a fighting stance.

"-Father... I will show you how much I have grown since I left!-" Ryu said determinedly.

"-Then there is no need for words,-" Lucario replied. "-We will now fight to deterHRK!-" A powerful psychic force suddenly struck Riley's Lucario, throwing him out of the battlefield much like it had done to Gengar previously. Lucario was smashed into the wall by the psychic force, bounced off, and hit the ground. Lucario tried to pick himself up after that only to collapse again. Ryu stared at his father's unconscious form in shock.

"Knock-out confirmed! Riley's final pokemon is fainted!" The referee extended an arm toward Dawn and Barry. "Dawn and Barry are the winners!"

"I suppose it can't be helped," Riley said. Letting out a sigh, he recalled his pokemon and then flashed Dawn a smile. "Perhaps we can test our strength against each other another time, then? Upon reflection, a double battle was hardly the place for this..."

Dawn nodded. "Of course," she replied.

"Alright! We did it, Azelf!" Barry cheered, jumping up in the air. "One battle down, one to go!"

Azelf folded its arms and nodded. "Like there was ever any doubt!-"

"-YOU!-" Ryu yelled as he closed the distance between himself and Azelf. Azelf's eyes bulged as Ryu suddenly reaached out and grabbed it by the throat. "-Why did you do that! WE WERE ABOUT TO FIGHT LIKE MEN!-"

"-S... so... sorry...-" Azelf gasped out.

_Ryu seems pretty pissed about that,_ Dawn thought, smiling sheepishly. _Still, we won that pretty easily and Barry and Azelf really did do most of the work. Doesn't look like we'll have much trouble getting through this little tournament at all!_

* * *

Author's Notes: Bit of a curb stomp battle in this chapter to start off this final little bit. There will be two battles next chapter, though, and then a triple battle in the final chapter. That should be interesting to try to write...


	72. Chapter 70: Double Double

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 70**

**Double Double**

"Looks like one of our opponents uses bulky, durable pokemon while the other uses physically defensive pokemon. This could be drawn out a bit."

"Umm..."

"Buck doesn't have anything too dangerous, but Cheryl... her Wobbuffet and Blissey could be a pain."

"E-excuse me..."

"As long as we don't get stuck with special attackers we can take out that Blissey just fine I think, but that Wobbuffet could be a pain. Definitely a strong possibility that her Blissey is carrying something like Counter as well..."

"L-Lucas!" For the usually soft-spoken Marley, speaking as loudly as she did to get Lucas's attention was the equivalent of yelling at the top of her lungs. She quickly covered her mouth in embarassment after her outburst.

"Hmm?" Lucas turned his head to face her. "Something wrong, Marley?"

Marley lowered her hands. "I was just wondering what pokemon you think I should use..." she said quietly.

"Something with a lot of offensive power preferably," Lucas said to her. "Alternatively, something that can bypass their impressive defenses would be good."

"I see..." Marley considered her options out of the three pokemon she had selected for the double battle. Between Shaymin, Ninjask, and Electrode, the choice was pretty obvious for her. Lucas, meanwhile, was entering with Uxie, his crobat Bats, and his piplup Pips.

"Well, whenever you're ready, we should head out," Lucas said to her. "It's almost time." Marley nodded to him. She was ready. Lucas nodded in return and the two of them headed out into the battle room where their opponents, Buck and Cheryl, were already waiting.

"Hey, hey! You kept us waiting!" Buck said to them as they arrived. "Just wastin' everyone's time, you know! 'cause there's no way you're going to beat our combination!"

"Yes, I looked into that," Lucas replied matter-of-factly. "Your defenses are impressive, but that's about it. We'll find a way around them."

"Trainers! Take your positions!" the referee said to them. Buck and Cheryl were already standing apart on their side of the battlefield, but Lucas and Marley had only entered the room. The two of them quickly moved to their own spots across from Buck and Cheryl.

"Trainers, call out your first pokemon!" All four trainers gathered drew a pokeball and prepared to call out their pokemon.

"Bats, I choose you!"

"Electrode..."

"Torkoal! Let's make it hot!"

"Wobbuffet, I choose you!"

All four trainers released their pokemon. Before Lucas a purple, four-winged bat pokemon appeared flapping its wings rapidly to hover low over the field. A pokemon resembling a giant pokeball appeared before Marley. From Buck's pokeball, a red, turtle-like pokemon with thick, white smoke billowing from a furnace in its shell appeared. Finally, from Cheryl's pokeball a blue, rubbery-looking pokemon wearing red lipstick appeared and gave a salute.

_Had a feeling she'd start with that,_ Lucas thought. "Bats, attack Wobbuffet with Toxic!"

"Electrode, Charge Beam. Aim for that turtle thing." Marley quietly commanded her pokemon.

With the greater speed of their pokemon, Lucas and Marley were easily able to get off their attacks before their opponents could react. Lucas's crobat opened its mouth and shot through the air, flying over Wobbuffet and spilling poison onto it from above. The poison seeped into Wobbuffet's body and wracked her with pain that started small and would grow in intensity over time.

Marley's Electrode, meanwhile, fired a small beam of electricity from the center of its body at Buck's Torkoal. Torkoal barely flinched as the beam struck it, shaking slightly but easily taking the blow. Torkoal's capabilities lied primarily in physical defense but Electrode's offensive capabilities were rather weak to begin with.

_Good choice. She can raise her pokemon's special attacking power that way, at least,_ Lucas thought to himself as he observed Marley's actions.

"Torkoal, Will-O-Wisp! Aim for the bat!" Torkoal snorted, spewing white smoke out of its nostrils. The inferno contained in its furnace began to intensify and smoke began to fill the air around it. From the hole on his back, several purple flames emerged and flew toward Bats. Bats tried to evade the attack but the zigzagging motion of the flames threw him off. He took the hit and was left with a painful burn on his left-upper wing as a result.

"Wobbuffet, give the bat an Encore!" Bats's troubles weren't over yet, however, as Cheryl's pokemon was also targetting it. Wobbuffet clapped his hands together, applauding Bats's use of Toxic. The applause tricked him into continuing to use the technique.

"Guess we have no choice... well, at least aim for Torkoal, Bats!" Lucas ordered his pokemon, hoping to make the best of a bad situation. Bats would continue to pour poison over the opponent's pokemon. But first, it was making sure to hit Torkoal with some of that poison. Bats scooted over while spitting more toxic chemicals from above, splattering it all over Torkoal's head and causing a powerful poison to spread through the fire pokemon's body.

"Electrode, continue the attack," Marley said to her pokemon. Electrode's response was to do just that. It kept the electric beam focused on Torkoal. The beam was widening ever so slowly as Electrode continued the attack, its special attack power being increased by the flow of electricity.

"That's quite enough of that, young lady." Cheryl said to Marley. "Wobbuffet, take the hit and counter with Mirror Coat." While Electrode was focused on Torkoal, Wobbuffet positioned herself between the two pokemon. For a moment she was taking the attack directly in Torkoal's place. Her body then took on a reflective sheen to send a powerful surge of energy back at Electrode in the form of another beam. Wobbuffet's beam quickly overpowered Electrode's and blasted it back to the edge of the battlefield.

"Torkoal, let's lend a hand! Move ahead of Wobbuffet and use Eruption!" Torkoal took a few hops to put itself past Wobbuffet and then took a deep breath. The sudden intake of oxygen fanned the flames and produced a powerful explosion. Torkoal quickly lowered its front legs so the flames pouring out of its shell could be aimed for Marley's Electrode. The pokeball-mimicking pokemon had suddenly become the main focus and found itself completely engulfed in a blast of flames that covered its entire side of the battlefield. When the flames died down, Electrode's charred body lie unconscious.

"Knockout confirmed!" the referee exclaimed, then gestured to Marley. "Trainer Marley, please recall your pokemon."

"Darn..." Marley mumbled as she recalled her pokemon. She was quick to switch pokeballs, having only one pokemon in reserve. "Shaymin, I choose you." Marley held out her second pokeball and released her pokemon. A white, quadrapedal pokemon with leaflike ears appeared on the battlefield. Shaymin had a smug grin on its face as it emerged. It was ready to demonstrate its power.

_Shaymin? I've never seen a pokemon like that before,_ Lucas thought when he saw Marley's pokemon. _I wonder what kind of capabilities it has..._

"Shaymin, hit them with Seed Flare while they're together." Marley said. Shaymind nodded quickly. Flapping its ears, it took off into the air. A series of small, white lights began to appear all around the pokemon's body. As it angled itself toward the opposing pokemon the lights suddenly exploded into a massive blast of energy that engulfed both of them. Wobbuffet and Torkoal's pained cries could be heard from within the light. When the light faded, both were unconscious.

"Whoa! That thing has a lot of firepower!" Lucas said in shock.

"Double knockout confirmed!" the referee called out without missing a beat. "Trainers Buck and Cheryl, please recall your pokemon!"

"Geez... what kind of attack was that?" Buck wondered aloud as he recalled Torkoal.

"A powerful one..." Cheryl murmured. "However, my remaining pokemon will easily be able to withstand such a blast even though Wobbuffet could not." Cheryl recalled her Wobbuffet and took another pokeball in her hand. "Blissey, I choose you!"

"Hey! I didn't say for a second that I was worried!" Buck shot back quickly, taking out another pokeball as well. "Claydol, let's get out there and take that weird thing down!" he called out. His Claydol, a floating, statue-like pokemon born from an ancient clay doll, and Cheryl's Blissey, a fat, pink, nurse-like pokemon carrying an egg, emerged simultaneously onto the field to battle Lucas's Bats and Marley's Shaymin.

That Blissey will be the biggest problem, Lucas thought. "Crobat, move and focused that poison on Blissey!" Bats fluttered around the battlefield while still spewing more poison from his small mouth. A vile, poisonous substance splashed onto Blissey as Crobat passed over her. The poison seeped into her body and began causing her pain almost instantly.

"Shaymin, take out that floating one. Seed Flare." Shaymin turned about in the air and took aim at Claydol. Small lights flashed all across its body as seeds exploded, releasing a powerful blast of energy at the floating clay doll. Claydol was flung spinning backwards through the air as the powerful shockwave struck it, smashing it against the wall outside the battlefield and knocking it out instantly.

"N-no way!" Buck said in disbelief. "I know that was likely a grass-type attack, but even then..."

"Knockout confirmed! Trainer Buck, recall your pokemon!" the referee said to him. Buck muttered under his breath about it being a lucky shot as he recalled Claydol.

"Then I suppose that leaves just me now," Cheryl said quietly. "Hmm. Blissey, attack the crobat with Psychic." Blissey's eyes flashed and she pointed toward Bats, directing a psychic force toward it. Bats was flung back across the battlefield from the attack, shrieking as it spun through the air. Bats landed face first only a few feet away from Lucas and was left briefly stunned by the impact. Before long, though, it was pulling itself up and turning to glare at Blissey. The effects of the Encore technique Wobbuffet had used on it had now worn off.

"Bats, go! Attack with Cross Poison, now!" Lucas called out.

"We have planned for this, I'm afraid!" Cheryl replied. "Blissey, Counter it!"

Bats flapped his wings and took off. He skimmed low across the battlefield, quickly closing the distance between himself and Blissey. When he was finally in melee range he rose up and slashed Blissey across the face with his two upper wings, using the smaller lower wings to stay in the air long enough to make the attack. Blissey recoiled back as she was struck, but then bounced back and slammed Bats in the face with a powerful punch. Bats was thrown back across the field and was knocked out instantly when he hit the ground.

"Knockout confirmed! Lucas, recall your pokemon!" the referee called out.

"Minor loss at this point, really..." Lucas said as he recalled his pokemon. Then he quickly swapped pokeballs. He had only one other pokeball with him due to the rules of the tournament. What that pokeball contained would surprise everyone. "Pips, I choose you!" he called out, releasing from the pokeball a completely unevolved piplup.

"WHAT!" Buck yelled and burst into laughter, clutching his sides. "HAHAHA! THAT'S your last pokemon! That's pathetic! Cheryl's got this in the bag!"

Marley narrowed her eyes at Buck in a glare. There were many things she wanted to say to him now. It occurred to her, though, that there was a better way to say them. "Shaymin, attack with Seed Flare again." Marley commanded her pokemon with more resolve now and Shaymin responded in kind. There was only one opponent for it to attack and Shaymin quickly took aim. Seeds flared up and exploded along its body, launching a powerful shockwave at Blissey. She endured the blast but her weariness afterwards was evident in the way her body slouched forward.

"I'm afraid you'll find special attacks are not very effective against Blissey," Cheryl said with a playful smile on her face. "Blissey, use Softboiled and Refresh." Blissey removed the egg from her pouch, which she was always carrying. Another egg formed almost instantly. The first one she raised over her head and cracked open. A white, glowing substance dropped out and spread over her body, healing her injuries. At the same time, she drew out a healing power from within to refresh herself and heal the poison that had been inflicted on her.

"Hmm... Pips, attack with Brine!" Lucas commanded. Pips responded eagerly, enraged by Buck's remarks. Pips jumped toward Blissey and, while in the air, began spinning around and spewing water from his mouth. The water flared out in all directions from Pips and the edge of it caught Blissey in the swirling vortex. Blissey grimaced in pain, showing more of a reaction to the technique than one would normally expect a blissey to.

Lucas smirked. "Just as I thought. That Seed Flare technique drastically lowered your Blissey's ability to withstand special attacks!"

"It weakened her!" Cheryl said in shock.

"Then let's finish this, Shaymin! Seed Flare!" Marley called out. Still hovering in the air, Shaymin flapped its ear-wings at Blissey as several seeds all along its body exploded. The exploding seeds launched a powerful shockwave at Blissey. This time, she wouldn't endure it. She struggled against the shockwave when it first struck her but was soon flung back, smashing against the wall of the battle room. She was immediately knocked out and her unconscious form fell to the floor.

"Knockout confirmed!" The referee raised his right arm, which was closest to Lucas and Marley. "Lucas and Marley are the winners of this match!"

* * *

"Looks like Lucas and that other girl won their match..." Dawn said quietly. The results of the battle were being displayed on a monitor in her and Barry's ready room. "Lucas used a piplup and crobat, Marley used a ninjask and... some pokemon I've never seen before. It's definitely a grass and flying-type, though."

"No worries then!" Barry said confidently. "Our pokemon are more than capable of handling that!"

"I don't know, it seemed pretty powerful to me..."

"Then just stay out of my way and let me handle it!" Barry yelled, then took a pokeball in each hand. "With these two... I'll definitely be able to beat them!"

"If you say so..." Dawn replied. She mentally made note to choose her own pokemon carefully. She definitely wanted to be ready to take that pokemon down.

* * *

After the double battle with Cheryl and Buck, Lucas and Marley were given some time to prepare for their next match. With only two teams left in this rather small tournament, it was down to them, Dawn, and Barry. Each team studied the opposing team's pokemon then moved into the battle room. They took up their respective positions on the field and faced each other down as they awaited the referee's call.

They didn't have to wait long. The refree raised both hands into the air and called out, "Trainers! Release your pokemon!" The four trainers gathered wasted no time doing just that.

"Eggman, go!"

"Snorlax, let's go big or go home!"

"Pips, I choose you!"

"Ninjask..."

Four pokemon emerged onto the field. A white pokemon that almost looked more like a plane than a bird appeared before Dawn, next to a rather fat, bearlike pokemon that Barry sent out. On the opposite side of the field, Lucas was leading off with his piplup this time while Marley sent out the bug-type pokemon, Ninjask. Ninjask was known for being one of the fastest pokemon there is. Even now it was flitting from side to side impatiently, its movements difficult to follow.

"Ninjask, focus on evasion and increase power with Swords Dance." Marley commanded calmly. Ninjask focused and a sword-shaped, blue aura surrounded it. While Ninjask was powering up it kept a wary watch over Dawn and Barry's pokemon, ready to bolt if either made a move.

"Oh yeah? Just try to escape this! Eggman, Shockwave! Attack that pokemon!" Dawn called out, pointing at Ninjask. Eggman turned to face it and flapped his wings a few times. With the final flap he released a blast of electricity that spread out in all directions, leaving Ninjask with nowhere to run. Ninjask let out a pained, high-pitched buzzing noise when the electricity struck it and dropped to the ground. Within moments, though, it flitted back into the air and glared angrily at Eggman.

"Snorlax, Body Slam! Let's squash that piplup!" Barry called out eagerly. Snorlax quickly got up and thundered across the field. Pips stared in horror as the massive pokemon charged toward it and jumped into the air. Within seconds, Pips had disappeared under the pokemon's bulk and what felt like an earthquake shook the room.

Lucas stared at the massive pokemon lying on its belly in shock at first and then shot Barry a glare. "You better not have actually squashed it!"

"H-hey! I didn't mean that literally, I'm just trying to knock it out!" Barry replied defensively. The referee, meanwhile, was staring at the scene and wondering whether or not he should make a fainted pokemon call.

"This could be trouble... Ninjask, attack the flyer with Aerial Ace." Ninjask quickly flew up high in a blur of movement and then shot down toward Eggman, disappearing for most of the dive. Eggman was knocked back as if something had hit him and then Ninjask reappeared, slowing its movements down after striking Eggman. It was a hard blow and left Eggman reeling for a moment.

"Good, but not good enough!" Dawn said with a smirk. "Eggman, finish it with another Shockwave!" Eggman shook off the hit and got up, then turned toward Ninjask and fired off another blast of electricity. Again, Ninjask was left with nowhere to go and was struck by the blast of electricity. It dropped to the ground and lied there twitching for a moment, then stopped moving entirely.

"Knockout confirmed!" the referee declared. "Marley, recall your pokemon!"

"Maybe I'm not very good at this..." Marley mumbled as she recalled her pokemon.

Meanwhile, Barry's Snorlax finally decided to get back up. A pokemon could be seen clinging to his stomach, but it wasn't the piplup that it had jumped on earlier. Instead, the pokemon clinging to Snorlax's stomach was slightly bigger than a piplup. It was also very much conscious as it demonstrated when it finally let go and jumped down to the floor. It nearly collapsed when it did, clearly in a lot of pain.

"That thing is still alive?" Barry blinked in disbelief and then quickly shook his head. "Snorlax, flatten that thing this time! Body Slam!" Snorlax looked down at his opponent and grumbled, then tried to jump on him. Pips was ready this time and quickly rolled off to the side.

"-Not this time pal...-" he said weakly.

"Barry, you worry me..." Lucas grumbled. "Pips, Drill Peck!" With Snorlax now exposed and vulnerable, now seemed like the perfect time to attack. However, before attacking, Pips began to glow. In spite of just evolving, he was now evolving again. His body grew larger and took on the appearance of a metallic tuxedo, giving his wings and beak a blade-like edge.

Now in his newly evolved form as an empoleon, Pips moved toward Snorlax and began drilling into Snorlax's side with a series of rapid pecks. Snorlax groaned in pain and quickly sat up, at which point Pips jumped back and pointed a wing challengingly at him.

"Geez, another evolution?" Barry grumbled. "There oughta be a rule or something!"

Marley, meanwhile, took another pokeball in her hand and held it out, releasing her Shaymin from its pokeball. She quickly gave it a command. "Shaymin, finish her flyer with Seed Flare!" she called out.

"That thing's pretty fast... Eggman, we'll have to move faster! Extremespeed!" Dawn called out to her pokemon, recalling the battle she witnessed earlier. Eggman quickly flew through the air and slammed into Shaymin in a blur of movement. Shaymin was thrown back by the attack but quickly shook it off and turned toward Eggman again with a smug grin on its face. Seeds flashed and exploded along Shaymin's body, firing a powerful shockwave at Eggman that smashed him into the ground and knocked him out instantly.

"Knockout confirmed! Dawn, recall your pokemon!" the referee called out. Dawn complied, recalling Eggman and taking another pokeball in her hand.

"Jack Frost, your turn now!" Dawn called out. From the pokeball she released Jack Frost, an ice-type pokemon, onto the field. Shaymin felt a chill from his presence and shivered.

"Snorlax, attack with Body Slam again! This time we'll definitely finish it!"

"Pips, attack first with Steel Wing!" Lucas called out before Barry's pokemon could attack. Pips dashed toward Snorlax and jabbed one bladed wing into the fat pokemon's stomach. Snorlax groaned and staggered back, clutching his stomach in pain.

"Now, Brine!" Pips held out both fins and begin spinning around rapidly. Water began to spew from his mouth and swirled around him, spreading out until it reached Snorlax. Snorlax wasn't able to endure the water splashing against him for long before falling into it. The only thing that kept Snorlax from being pulled toward Pips was his own massive bodyweight but it didn't help any. He was still knocked out.

"Knockout confirmed! Barry, recall your pokemon!"

"Tch... that thing didn't know when to quit..." Barry grumbled as he recalled his Snorlax.

"Shaymin, attack the newcomer with Seed Flare!" Marley called out while the two boys were battling. Seeds flared along Shaymin's body and released a powerful shockwave. The blast engulfed Jack Frost entirely and knocked him off his feet. Jack was able to endure the attack, however, and was weakly getting back up when the energy dispersed.

"Jack, fire back with Icy Wind!" The gem on Jack's forehead flashed as he stood back up. The air around him quickly chilled and blew over Shaymin. Shaymin shivered violently and ice began to form on its body as the cold air overtook it. It slowly fell to the ground, landing on its feet but then collapsing as the cold air drained the last of its strength.

"Knockout confirmed! Marley, recall your Shaymin!"

"That's strange... Shaymin won the last battle so easily..." Marley murmured as she recalled her pokemon. "Perhaps ice is a bad matchup?"

"Pips, finish Dawn's pokemon with Brine!" Lucas called out, not missing a beat. Pips had just finished defeating Barry's Snorlax and was now moving on to Dawn's glaceon. Pips began to spin around while releasing salty water, swirling the water around him. The water reached out to Jack and began to pull him in while pounding him with the strong current. Jack was dragged closer and closer to Pips until he finally fainted, at which point Pips stopped his attack.

"Knockout confirmed! Dawn, recall your pokemon!" the referee said. Dawn stared in disbelief for a moment before recalling her last pokemon.

"I can't believe I was eliminated so quickly..." she said quietly.

"Guess it's just me then!" Barry said with a grin as he pointed his last pokeball toward the field. "Azelf, you're up! Get out there!" he called out. The pokeball opened and the legendary pokemon Azelf emerged.

"Azelf, take out that empoleon with Psychic!" Azelf's eyes and forehead gem flashed, releasing a powerful psyshic pulse that threw Pips across the field. Pips didn't have much strength to begin with after enduring the Body Slam from Snorlax as a prinplup, thus it went down almost instantly.

"Knockout confirmed! Lucas, recall your empoleon!" the referee called out, but Lucas was already recalling Pips when he did. He was pretty eager to send out his next pokemon.

"Comes down to this it seems. Uxie, I choose you!" he called out, releasing his own legendary pokemon. The yellow-capped Uxie emerged onto the field, eyes closed in deep contemplation. "Uxie, use Yawn." Lucas commanded quickly. Uxie opened its mouth and let out a yawn, releasing a cloud of gas toward Azelf.

"No way! Azelf, Detect!" Barry called out. Receiving a flash of insight, Azelf quickly moved around the gas cloud in a sudden burst of speed to avoid it entirely.

"Use Nasty Plot now, Azelf!" Having seemingly found a free moment in the battle, Azelf focused and plotted against Uxie. It wasn't hard for it to come up with plans of attack against its fellow lake pokemon. Azelf was relishing this chance to battle against Uxie. This mental stimulation gave Azelf a boost to its special attack power.

"Have it your way... Uxie, counter with Amnesia." Uxie, meanwhile, was taking the battle in stride. Forgetting some of its rather vast knowledge, Uxie was able to increase its strength against Azelf's special attacks.

"Grr! In that case, we'll use physical attacks! Azelf, Thunder Punch!" Azelf charged toward Uxie with one hand held forward. That hand began to crackle with electricity. Azelf smashed Uxie hard with an electrified punch, but Uxie withstood the attack fairly easily.

"Attack all you want, it won't do you any good against Uxie," Lucas said to Barry. Uxie could take anything Azelf would throw at it now and then heal with Rest, afterall. "Uxie, Extrasensory," he then commanded. The gem on Uxie's forehead flashed and a psychic force began to pull at Azelf's body. Being a psychic-type itself, Azelf easily resisted in spite of its defenses.

"Won't do any good?" Barry thought about it for a moment and quickly realized something both he and Lucas had been overlooking. "Hey, yeah! Our pokemon have similar attacks, don't they? Heh! Azelf, Imprison!" Azelf floated back and then concentrated. The gem on its forehead flashed and a red glow surrounded its body. A harsher red glow then surrounded Uxie, sealing it from using any techniques both pokemon knew.

"W... was I just outsmarted? By Barry?" Lucas wondered aloud, blinking in disbelief.

"Hell yeah you were! Hammer 'em now, Azelf! Thunder Punch! Fire Punch! Ice Punch!" Azelf flexed its arms and dashed toward Uxie again. One hand became engulfed in electricity and the other in flames. Azelf punched Uxie first with the electrically-charged fist, then with the flaming fist. While Uxie was recoiling from the blows, Azelf drew both fists back and they became enveloped in ice.

"Don't think you've won just yet! Uxie, Endure it!" Uxie shook off the blows and braced itself for Azelf's attack. Azelf slammed Uxie with both fists simultaneously, shattering their icy coating on contact. Uxie was flung back a few feet from the blow but was able to endure the hit. Just barely.

"Now attack with Flail!" Summoning its strength, Uxie lunged for Azelf.

"No way! Azelf, Detect!" Azelf moved quickly to avoid Uxie's last ditch attack. Uxie went sailing past Azelf while flailing around in vain trying to hit it.

"Now finish this with Psychic!" Azelf turned and its eyes and forehead gem flashed. Uxie winced as a psychic force struck it from behind suddenly and then dropped to the floor, unconscious. Azelf's final attack was more than Uxie could take at this point in spite of being a psychic-type pokemon itself.

"Knockout confirmed!" the referee called out, then raised a hand toward Dawn and Barry. "Dawn and Barry are the winners of the double battle round!"

"Can't believe I lost..." Lucas grumbled as he recalled his pokemon. Marley let out a sigh. She was upset to have lost the match as well.

"Alright! We still managed to win this somehow!" Dawn cheered, though it occurred to her after that she wasn't sure why she was so excited. She really wasn't all that interested in this tournament.

Barry, however, was of a completely different mindset. He turned to Dawn and pointed a finger at her. "HeyheyHEY! Don't celebrate just yet!"

"Huh?" Dawn blinked. "Why?"

"Because now it's between me and you!" Barry replied. "Right here, right now! A triple battle to determine which of us fights my dad!"

* * *

Author's Notes: Phew... coming into the final lap now. Just one more chapter to go! Next chapter, I'll be trying to write a triple battle. So let's see how that goes!


	73. Chapter 71: Triple Finish

**Pokemon Legends: Sinnoh Saga**

**Chapter 71**

**Triple Finish**

For a while there I completely forgot I was going to have to face Barry in a triple battle, Dawn thought as she stared Barry down from across the battlefield. Then, a thought struck her. Wait a second...

"What's a triple battle?" Dawn asked the referee. The poor guy nearly fell over.

"You don't know what a..." He smacked his forehead with his hand. "Do I really need to explain this?"

"Three pokemon, Dawn! Isn't that obvious!" Barry yelled to her.

"W-well what about special rules?" Dawn asked, realizing she had made an idiot of herself. "Is that really just it? Three pokemon at a time?"

"YES!" Barry and the refree yelled simultaneously.

"Well if it's that all there is to it, then why not quadruple battles? Quintuple battles? Sextuple battles?"

"Miss, just call out your pokemon so we can start the battle," the referee said wearily.

"Fine..." Dawn grumbled. Taking two pokeballs in one hand and one in the other, Dawn released all three of her available pokemon simultaneously. "Ryu! Eggman! Jack Frost! Altogether now!" she called out as she released them. The three pokemon appeared side by side on the battlefield, poised for a fight.

"Okay! My turn then!" Barry said, taking all three of his pokeballs in his hands the same way Dawn had. "Snorlax! Infernape! Azelf! This is the last round, so let's give it everything we've got! GogoGO!" One by one Barry's pokemon appeared on the battlefield. First Snorlax, then Infernape on his right and Azelf on his left. The three of them quickly slid into fighting stances.

"Trainers! Begin battle!" The referee called out almost as soon as the pokemon had hit the battlefield.

_Okay, this should be pretty easy,_ Dawn thought. _Eggman can take Infernape, Jack Frost will have to take on Azelf, and Ryu can take on Snorlax._ With her strategy determined, a smirk formed on Dawn's lips.

"Eggman, attack Infernape with Air Slash! Jack, attack Azelf with Signal Beam! Ryu, hit Snorlax with Close Combat!"

"Everyone, quick! Duck behind Snorlax! Snorlax, Defense Curl!" Barry called out. As Dawn's pokemon were going on the attack, Barry's pokemon were taking the defensive. Snorlax curled up into a tight ball to protect himself while Infernape and Azelf moved behind him, using the larger pokemon for cover.

Jack Frost fired a mulitcolor beam of light and Eggman sent a gust of wind and several blades of air across the field, aiming at their respective opponents. In trying to follow their movements, though, they ended up hitting Snorlax instead. Having a very strong defense against special attacks, Snorlax hardly flinched as the attacks struck him and deflected off his bulk.

Ryu was next to try to attack, moving into melee range with Snorlax in the blink of an eye and unleashing a flurry of punches on the pokemon. Snorlax winced and grunted in pain but forced himself to endure it. Ryu's attacks weren't hitting anywhere vital, making it easier for him to do so. While Ryu was attacking, though, Dawn realized he was in danger.

"Ryu, stop! Get out of there, now!" she called out to him.

"Azelf, Psychic! Infernape, Flamethrower!" Barry called out. Both his pokemon moved out from behind Snorlax in an attempt to ambush Ryu. Heeding Dawn's warning, Ryu quickly hopped back and narrowly managed to avoid a blast of flames spat out by Infernape. As he was moving to avoid the flames, however, a psychic force suddenly struck him and flung him back halfway across the battlefield. He hit the ground hard and was stunned for a moment. He had taken a hard blow but was soon back on his feet, greatly weakened but still in the fight.

"He planned this out better than I thought... Alright then, let's try slowing them down instead! Jack Frost, Icy wind!"

"Infernape, counter with Flamethrower!"

Jack's forehead gem flashed and the air around him instantly dropped to frighteningly low temperatures. A strong wind then blew toward Barry's pokemon, carrying that cold air. Barry's Infernape countered this by firing a blast of flames in Jack's direction. The flames didn't reach Jack, but they did heat up the cold wind and rendered the attack ineffective.

"No good... well let's just take out one of his pokemon!" Dawn pointed a finger toward Snorlax and said, "Ryu! Eggman! Aura Sphere, now!" Ryu cupped his hands and Eggman spread out his wings. The two pokemon formed a sphere of aura between their respective appendages and fired it at Barry's Snorlax. Snorlax was still curled up and didn't even see the attacks coming. Both spheres hit Snorlax, causing him to roll back a few times from the force of the impact and uncurl when he finally came to a stop.

"Knockout confirmed! Barry, recall Snorlax!" the referee called out.

"Not bad... but it's not over yet!" Barry says to Dawn as he recalls Snorlax. While recalling Snorlax he also takes the opportunity to call out commands to his own pokemon. "Azelf, attack Ryu with Psychic! Infernape, hit Jack Frost with a Flare Blitz!"

Azelf's eyes and forehead flashed, sending a thrust of psychic force at Ryu and hurling him through the air. Ryu cried out sharply when he hit the ground and then fell silent. Meanwhile, Infernape wreathed his body in flames and charged across the battlefield toward Jack Frost.

"Knockout confirmed! Dawn, recall Ryu!" the referee called out. Dawn quickly complied while calling out further attacks.

"Jack, evade with Quick Attack and follow up with Icy Wind! Eggman, attack Infernape with Air Slash!" Jack Frost quickly zipped off to the left in a blur, avoiding the flaming monkey that sped through the spot where Jack Frost had been standing. As Infernape turned around in an attempt to regain its bearings it was suddenly struck by a flurry of sharp wind and knocked off its feet. While Infernape was down it was struck by more wind, this time an arctic breeze that sent a chill throughout his body.

"Azelf, now's your chance! Attack Eggman with Thunder Punch!" "Infernape, try Flare Blitz again! Don't miss this time!" Infernape rose up and let out a primal scream as flames flowed around him, spreading out from his tail. With the flames pouring around him and giving him the appearance of a fireball, Infernape charged into Jack. Jack was briefly engulfed in the flames and sent flying across the field from the impact. He was unconscious when he landed and Infernape quickly dropped as well.

Meanwhile, Azelf flew across the field at high speed. It kept one hand readied to throw a punch and electricity began to crackle around its hand as it neared Eggman. Azelf moved too fast for Eggman to follow and, as a result, he took the punch in the side of the head. The blow to the head briefly stunned him and knocked him over, but he was clearly still in the fight and was soon trying to prop himself up.

"Double Knockout! Combatants Jack Frost and Infernape are to be recalled by their respective trainers!" the referee called out. Dawn and Barry both recalled their pokemon and put the pokeballs back on their belts, then quickly called out a command to their remaining pokemon.

"Azelf, Psychic now!"

"Eggman, Air Slash and follow up with Extremespeed!"

Azelf's eyes and forehead gem flashed as Azelf sent a psychic thrust at Eggman while he was still struggling to get up. Eggman recoiled as if some powerful pokemon had punched him and was knocked flat against the ground, but he had no intention of staying there. Within the blink of an eye he rolled over and used his wings to flip himself back onto his feet. He then began flapping those wings, pelting Azelf with sharp blades of air. Azelf cried out sharply as the blades slashed across its small body.

While Azelf was distracted by the blades of air, Eggman flapped his wings and took off into the air. He then shot off like a jet plane toward Azelf, disappearing in a blur of movement as he drew closer. The impact knocked Azelf into the floor hard, seemingly knocking it out. Azelf had the wind knocked out of it and remained motionless for a moment, but began to stir after recovering from the initial impact and floated up just as the referee was ready to declare a knockout.

"We're still in this! Azelf, finish her pokemon now with Ice Punch!" Azelf shook its head, regaining its senses. Azelf turned to Eggman, who was still hovering nearby. One hand immediately became covered in ice. Azelf shot toward Eggman and punched him in the side of the head, shattering the ice around its fist on impact. For Eggman, this was one blow to the head too many and he was knocked out instantly.

"Match over!" The referee raised a hand toward Barry. "Barry wins!"

"HELL YEAH!" Barry cried out, pumping his hand into the air. He then pointed a finger at Dawn. "Howdya like that, miss Champion! I totally kicked your ass!"

Barry's attitude toward her shook Dawn out of her shocked state. "HEY! Don't get cocky, mister! I didn't have my champion team, you know! I was giving them a break! If I had Bahamut or Bowser with me or any of my legendary pokemon with me it would have been a different story!"

"Ahahaha! Whatever you say!" Barry replied, waving his hand dismissively. "Anyway, looks like I won and get to face my father now!"

_Somehow I feel like that was Palmer's intention from the start,_ Dawn thought, rolling her eyes. Taking a pokeball in her hand, she finally recalled Eggman. It was at that moment that Palmer burst into the room from the elevator.

"Hey! Great battle, you two!" Palmer yelled while wearing a huge grin on his face. "So after all that it looks like I'm facing my son in the end afterall! I can't think of a better sendoff for this old place!"

Dawn slapped her hand _Now he's practically admitting he set all this up to battle Barry!_

"Now!" Palmer pointed a finger toward Barry. "Barry! Let's you and me have a battle here that will rock this tower to its very foundation!" Palmer set his foot down hard as he finished his statement and almost instantly the tower began to shake.

"H-hey! Shouldn't that wait until the battle at least!" Barry said while trying to keep his balance.

"Uh..." Palmer blinked in confusion. "That wasn't me..."

As the seconds dragged on, the shaking became worse and worse. The sound of something breaking and cracking could be heard in the distance.

Palmer stroked his chin as he tried to figure out what was going on. "Did I call a wrecking crew without thinking...?" he wondered aloud.

"Oh god..." the referee that had been there for Dawn and Barry's match suddenly dropped to the floor cowering. "We're all going to die... This was supposed to be my last day here, but not like this!"

_If you say something like that it'll definitely come true,_ Dawn thought while calmly reaching for a pokeball. "Anyway... I think it's pretty obvious the tower is collapsing, shouldn't we get out of here?"

"Ah..." Palmer rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and reached for a pokeball as well. "Right, right... we should make our escape now."

"B-but what about our battle!" Barry protested.

"Wouldn't it be a nuisance if the tower was collapsing around us in the middle of battle though?" Palmer said to Barry. "We'll just have to put it off until I get a new one, alright?"

"Fine..." Barry muttered, then finally reached for a pokeball as well. Dawn and Barry each released their typical flight-ready pokemon, a staraptor each, and Palmer released a dragonite from his pokeball. The dragon pokemon that appeared before Palmer looked like the type of dragon one might see in a children's television series, looking bulky and completely non-threatening.

It was when everyone's pokemon were released that the entire room slowly began to tilt.

"Crap! No time to be taking this lightly!" Palmer said, finally realizing the severity of the situation. "Dragonite, blast us an exit with Hyper Beam!" Palmer pointed toward the southern end of the room, which was now slowly becoming the ceiling. Dragonite nodded and opened its mouth to fire a massive energy beam, blasting out a large section of the wall.

"Azelf, we're getting out of here! You should get back in your pokeball now!" Azelf nodded in agreement with Barry. Barry quickly recalled Azelf and put its pokeball back on his belt then turned to his staraptor. "Okay, Staraptor, take us out of here!" he said to it, then jumped on its back. Staraptor quickly spread out its wings and took off, flying out through the hole in the wall.

Dawn was quick to jump on her bird pokemon's back as well and pointed toward the hole. "Captain Falcon, we're leaving! Now!" Captain Falcon didn't need to be told twice. With a flap of his wings he quickly took off, flying through the hole in the wall and into the open air beyond..."

"..." the referee was mumbling over and over in the meantime.

"Aw, quit your whimpering and come on already!" Palmer motioned for Dragonite to grab him, which it promptly did, and then jumped on Dragonite's back. "Alright, let's get out of here!" Dragonite nodded and took off through the hole, escaping the tower. The three pokemon remained hovering in the air outside, their trainers watching as the tower toppled over below them.

"Well that came from out of nowhere... I hope everyone else made it out okay," Dawn said.

"I think they did. Look down there," Barry pointed toward the ground in the distance. A group of people, many of which were recognizably participants from the day's battles, were gathered a safe distance from the tower.

Without another word, all three trainers directed their pokemon to land where the group was gathered. As they were flying through the air the tower finally hit the ground. The entire area shook from the impact and a large cloud of dust and debris rose up from the remains of the tower, completely blotting it from view. none of the debris reached the crowd of onlookers, though.

"Hey! Glad to see everyone made it out okay!" Palmer said when he landed next to the crowd. "How did everyone know to evacuate though?"

"Well no one was going to stick around when they saw the giant robot barreling toward the building," Lucas, one of the trainers among the crowd, replied flatly.

"Giant robot?" Dawn asked in confusion. She was suddenly picturing a giant mecha had walked up to the tower and punched it over. A rumbling noise was soon heard coming from the tower debris and, instead of a giant mecha, what looked more like an oversized spidertank emerged from the debris practically unscathed. Everyone quickly turned around to finally see who the culprit responsible for collapsing the Battle Tower was.

"A... giant robot spider?" Palmer scratched his head in confusion. "Now there's something you don't see everyday..."

"If it was some kind of pokemon, that would be different but..." Dawn added.

A hatch on the top of the tank then suddenly opened and a familiar, gray-haired figure popped out of it. "Hmm... not quite the crowd I was expecting, but I see three of the trainers responsible for defeating Team Galactic are gathered here..."

"Charon!" Dawn said in disbelief. "But you were captured by the International Police! I was there!"

"It seems there are individuals out there who require the services of the great Charon," the old man said with a wide grin on his face. "I was broken out of custody and given this one chance to have a little fun before I join them. So, as payback for all the humiliation I suffered through, you will all die before my new and improved..."

"What! Are you serious, you old coot?" Palmer called out, chuckling to himself. "Have you even thought about what you're up against here?"

"Of course I have!" Charon shot back indignantly. "I have made all the necessary modifications to..."

"He means you're outnumbered," Lucas said flatly as he stepped forward. "Why don't you open your eyes and look before you open that big mouth of your's? Some of the top trainers in the region are gathered here. Some of us even have legendary pokemon."

"HA! Even all your power combined would be unable to scratch my beautiful creation!" Charon boldly declared.

"Then perhaps we could lend a hand?" Another man's voice called out. Before anyone could find the source of that voice a blue glow suddenly surrounded Charon and hoisted him into the air.

"What? No! Stop! Put me down!" Charon protested, flailing uselessly. Now that he was in the air, though, he could clearly see the four trainers standing behind the crowd. An alakazam stood near one of the trainers, using its psychic power to hold Charon in the air. "The Elite Four! But why!"

"We were out looking for a certain hotshot trainer," the red-haired Flint explained with a grin. "Naturally, we came running when we saw the Battle Tower suddenly collapse."

Charon growled and looked down at his machine, then pointed at the Elite Four. "X-ATM100! Get them!" The tank's eyes flashed in response, acknowledging the command and charging toward the group of trainers. Before it could reach them, though, the ground suddenly began to split apart under it. The machine's front legs reached solid ground, but the back legs slipped into the fissure and threatened to pull it in. On the other side of the fissure a black hippo pokemon burst out of the ground. The fissure then closed tightly around the robot, holding it in place.

"My, quite reckless for such an old man, aren't you?" Bertha said, chuckling to herself. "But your robot isn't nearly as difficult an opponent as you make it out to be. An insect could defeat it."

"Hey! Some of us take offense to that, lady!" Aaron said angrily, but then grinned. "Totally right, though! Vespiquen, go!" Aaron took a pokeball in his hand and released the queen bee pokemon from it. "Vespiquen, Attack Order! Have those larvae of your's cause some trouble from the inside!"

Vespiquen nodded and buzzed the command to her larvae. Dozens of small, single-bodied versions of the pokemon combee began to pour out of her body. The larvae flew toward the robot and found their way in through the open hatch. The robot then began to twitch and spark as the larvae began tearing it apart from the inside.

"Flareon, go!" Flint then called out, joining the battle. He aimed past the crowd and released his Flareon near the fissure. "Flareon, heat that thing up with Flamethrower!" Flareon complied, opening its mouth and releasing a blast of intensely hot flames to heat up the robot. The metal it was made of was proving to be quite resistant to the heat, but that changed when Flareon directed the flames toward the robot's back. A grinding and cracking noise could be heard as the robot's frame began to give way to the heat and pressure.

"Heh. The Elite Four are making this look easy. I'm kinda jealous," Palmer said with a grin, then took a pokeball in his hand. "Well in that case, my turn now! Rhyperior, get out here!" The pokeball opened and a giant, red-armored rock pokemon appeared before Palmer.

"Rhyperior, finish this mechanical monstrosity off with a good Earthquake!" Rhyperior roared and raised a foot, then stamped the ground to send out a massive shockwave toward the fissure. The ground began to crack and break while the fissure closed in more around the robot, slowly breaking the robot until it finally shut down.

"And with that, it seems this incident is resolved quite handily," Lucian said quietly, then adjusted his glasses. "Needless to say, we'll be taking you back into custody now..."

In spite of his predicament, Charon could only grin. "Is that so? I think you underestimate my benefactor!"

"Benefactor?" Lucian repeated in confusion. Suddenly he caught sight of a flash of light from the corner of his eyes and heard his Alakazam crying out in pain. When he turned he saw electricity coursing around his pokemon's body, causing it immense pain. A small pokemon then moved quickly past it, moving so fast it was practically a blur as it shot past them to reach Charon. With Alakazam distracted, the old man unceremoniously fell to the ground.

"You've had your fun, old man," a voice said. A young boy wearing a white face mask and a black Team Rocket uniform then dropped down next to him, gliding in on a mantine. The pokemon that had attacked Alakazam - a dark orange raichu - came to a stop next to Charon. "Now, the newly formed Team Rocket requires your technical knowledge..."

"Hmph..." Charon stood up and quickly dusted himself off. "I suppose I don't have a choice now, do I?"

"Hey! Wait just a second!" Palmer yelled to them. "Do you really think we're letting you go so easily!"

The blonde-haired, masked Rocket turned and glared at him from behind the mask. "You're not getting a choice in the matter," he said definitively. He then took a small black ball from his pocket and threw it to the ground, putting up a smoke cloud around the two. When the smoke cleared, they had all disappeared.

"Damn it!" Palmer growled and punched the ground. "Those bastards destroyed my tower and got away with it too!"

"You still owe me a battle!" Barry said to him. "Tower or no tower!"

Palmer sighed and stood up, then turned and flashed his son a grin. "Well we'll just have to have our battle at my new tower in Johto! And no tournament this time, just you and me!"

"Works for me!" Barry replied enthusiastically.

"Shouldn't we be a bit more worried about that Team Rocket thing?" Dawn asked, looking around.

"It will be something for the league to look into, yes," Lucian said as he stepped through the crowd. "However, it seems they teleported away somehow. They may not even be in Sinnoh. A team will be called in to investigate, but I believe the rest of us have somewhere else to be..."

"That's right!" Aaron yelled, raising his hand in the air. "We've got a party to get to!"

"There's always room for more, too," Flint said to the crowd of trainers gathered. "So why don't you all come by the Resort Area to celebrate the crowning of Sinnoh's newest champion? And this totally isn't in any way an attempt to ensure no one tries to get out of giving a report of the incident!" The crowd began to murmur amongst themselves. Slowly, everyone turned to face Dawn.

"What?" Dawn asked, blinking in confusion. "Is everyone waiting for me to say it?"

"Well, it IS your party," Lucas said to her. Another trainer, Riley, then spoke up as well.

"As tempting as the offer is, it wouldn't be right for us to attend without your permission, would it?" he said, flashing a smile.

"Well I don't see why not..." Dawn replied. "Somehow, I know everyone here. And it's not like space is an issue. So, sure, why don't you all come to my party?" Dawn forced a smile as she said this. Truthfully, the idea of having so many guests bothered her. On the other hand, she felt bad that all the trainers gathered had participated in Palmer's sorry excuse for a tournament.

"Well, you heard the girl, folks!" Flint said with a grin. "Let's all head to Dawn's party!"

With that, everyone made their way to Dawn's villa. Today would mark the second party to have taken place at the villa in the short time Dawn had it for. The girl quietly hoped this wasn't going to become a trend.

* * *

The day after the party at her villa was over and the cleanup was done with, Dawn found herself preparing for one more advanture. She was expected to meet with May, Melany, Ashley, and Rina to deal with her legendary pokemon. Arceus in particular. Travelling to the Sanctuary, which was situated in the ocean between Hoenn and Johto, meant travelling across Johto. Since it would be her first time to a new region, Dawn was thinking she would take her time and see the sights. So before leaving, she decided to make a call. However...

"No response from Rina either..." Dawn let out a sigh as she set her phone down. "I just tried all four of them but no response. Don't they always have those pokenav things with them?" Dawn pondered over her dilemma for a moment and shrugged.

"Maybe they get no signal behind that barrier or something. I'll just leave and try again later..."

And so Dawn began packing for a trip across Johto to visit the Sanctuary, not yet knowing the truth about why the other girls weren't answering her call...

* * *

Author's Notes: I had originally intended to have the Johto Saga ready to go for today but... well... that just didn't fly. I wasn't able to get much done on the first Johto chapter in the weeks leading up to this and trying to work on two chapters this week... well, I ended up struggling to get just one short chapter done in the end. A headache and other distractions didn't help either.

So, instead of starting this week, the Johto Saga will be starting up next Sunday.

With that being said... FINALLY! The Sinnoh Saga is done! These last few chapters feel kinda tacked on I think, but it wouldn't feel right if I left Sinnoh without doing something with Palmer. So I tried to have a little fun with it instead, with the exception of this last chapter. This chapter was intended to give a bit of a glimpse into what would be going on in the Johto saga. Originally that part at the end was going to have Dawn arriving at the island instead and showing what was going on there, but then I realized she basically had to go through Johto anyway. So I used a phone call instead.

Anyway, that's it! Saga over, look forward to the next and final saga starting next week when I post the first chapter of Pokemon Legends: Region Zero. Yeah, trying to use a more meaningful name for this one. Probably too little, too late, but whatever...


End file.
